Metropolitan Waterworks Authority Conferred Asia’s Most Prominent CSR Awards under Health Promotion and Corporate Governance Category

TAIPEI,
TAIWAN�- Media OutReach -
10 June 2019 – A total of 64 projects and
business leaders across 16 countries in Asia were selected as recipients of
Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards (AREA) 2019, an increase of 19% from last
year. Regarded as the top corporate social responsibility awards in Asia, this
year’s ceremony was organized in Taipei, after being held in Macau, Singapore,
Bangkok, and Manila previously.

Organized by Enterprise Asia, the leading non-governmental organization
for responsible entrepreneurship in Asia, the AREA aims to recognize and honor
Asian businesses and leaders for championing sustainable and socially
responsible business practices. The award categories are social
empowerment, investment in people, health promotion, green leadership,
corporate governance, and responsible business leadership. Some of the
dignitaries who graced the event include Mr. Chang San-cheng, former premier of
the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Mr. Hou Yu-Ih, mayor of New Taipei City.

 

Leading the list of
winners was Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MWA) who received two awards
under the health promotion and corporate governance category. MWA is a state
enterprise under the Ministry of Interior. It started its operations in 1967
under the Metropolitan Waterworks Act B.E. 2510 (AD 1967) with an aim to
provide raw water sources for waterworks activities, including producing,
distributing and selling treated water in Bangkok – Nonthaburi – Samuthprakan,
as well as running other businesses related or beneficial to waterworks. The
respective winning projects of MWA were “School Tap Water System Project” and “MWA
Corporate Governance Council”.

 

School
Tap Water System Project

MWA initiated the
School Tap Water System Project in 2016. The project was developed from
Watershed Forest Conservation Project to honour His Majesty The King. The
project consisted of three activities including reforestation, weir
construction and school development. The goal of MWA was to develop and provide
clean water to at least four schools in remote areas per year as well as to
build good relationships between MWA and the communities by bringing out the expertise
and knowledge in waterworks of the organization to help the community.

 

The School Tap Water
System project brings out the expertise of MWA to help the Mae Klong River
Basin Communities by developing and improving school tap water system via the
development of groundwater system and mountain water system, providing high
water storage, water filter and plumbing system by the volunteer team which
consists of operational staff and MWA executives, reflecting the unity and
cooperation of the Company.

 

From 2016-2018, MWA has
provided clean water to 21 schools and plan to provide clean water to at least
four schools per year. There was an increase in cooperation in the area of
water conservation among governmental agencies, local authorities, private sectors
and various civil societies. Furthermore, students, teachers and school
personnel have equal access to sufficient clean water and this has helped reduce
the expense in purchasing bottled waters. There has also been a decrease in
hygiene and health problems of students, reduced sick leaves, and improved
quality of life. The project has won Enterprises of the Year Award in 2017 for
operations to include social and environmental excellence from State Enterprise
Policy Office, Thailand’s Ministry of Finance in 2017.

 

The School Tap Water
System Project is placed in the short-term and long-term plan of MWA allowing
the distinct continuous of the operation in the future. This Project also
supports the 6^th goal of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of
ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for
all. In the fiscal year of 2019, the revision of Annual Operational Plan made
the change of School Tap Water System Project into Development/ Improvement of
Tap Water System Project to further expand the target groups to religious
places together with expanding the area to Chao Phraya River Basin, another
major area of MWA.

 

MWA
Corporate Governance Council

The MWA Corporate
Governance Council was derived from “CG My Idol Project” which searched for
leaders and role models in corporate governance among their employees since
2012-2015. It is the first state enterprise which founded the Corporate
Governance Council.

 

In 2016, the board of directors
provided Anti-Corruption Policy which focused on corruption prevention as
following declaration “MWA with Transparency and Corruption Free” through
adding more channels for reporting problems and fault clues within the organization.
The MWA CG Council aims to build righteousness and strengthen morality, virtue
and corporate governance within the organization. Staff within organization can
share their opinions, concerns and problems with the management.

 

The MWA CG Council was
founded in accordance to the National Strategy (2017-2036), the National
Anti-Corruption Strategy (2017-2021) and the 4^th MWA’s Strategic
Management Planning (2017-2021) that aims MWA to be a high-performance organization
with excellent corporate governance, reaching international standards and
responding to all stakeholders need. Currently, there are 101 people from
election and 15 people are selected to be in MWA CG Council Commission.

 

The MWA CG Council
established MWA CG Council Action Plans to build confidence, faith and solutions
to corruption. Furthermore, it can drive operations of MWA to be more effective
and efficient with sustainable growth which will lead to excellent service to
customers and raise stakeholders’ trust and confidence. From the result of
operations, the Integrity and Transparency Assessment (ITA) score was more than
90% which shows that MWA is a well-managed organization with a high level of integrity
and transparency.

 

There are many external
organizations which are interested in MWA CG Council such as Anti-Corruption
Center, Moral Center, Office of National Anti-Corruption Commission etc. In
2017, MWA received award from Office of National Anti-Corruption Commission;
and in 2018, the score of ITA in part of internal stakeholders increased and
achieved an overall score of 92.40% which was higher than the target.

 

In the future, MWA CG
Council hopes to emphasize on the working standards as righteous and
transparent practices, applying corporate governance principles in order to
maximize stakeholder satisfactions and result in an increasing ITA score. The
Council plans to act as the role model to other state enterprise organizations
and companies; moreover, the council has the main liaison linking between
executives and employees, encouraging better employee engagement and organization
commitment as well as stakeholders’ trust. For this result, it shall be
coordination mechanism from MWA policies to organizational practices, regarding
three aspects which are ‘Personnel’ (Appointment/ Transfer / Welfare etc.),
‘Work’ (Proper Chain of Command / Administration / Input- Output Relation) and
a problem of ‘Economy’ (Value for investment / Procurement).

About Enterprise Asia

Enterprise Asia is a
non-governmental organization in pursuit of creating an Asia that is rich in entrepreneurship
as an engine towards sustainable and progressive economic and social
development within a world of economic equality. Its two pillars of existence
are investment in people and responsible entrepreneurship. Enterprise Asia
works with governments, NGOs and other organizations to promote competitiveness
and entrepreneurial development, in uplifting the economic status of people
across Asia and in ensuring a legacy of hope, innovation and courage for the
future generation. For more information, visit: https://www.enterpriseasia.org/.

About Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards

The Asia Responsible
Enterprise Awards recognizes and honors Asian businesses for championing
sustainable and responsible entrepreneurship in the categories of Green
Leadership, Investment in People, Health Promotion, Social Empowerment,
Corporate Governance and Responsible Business Leadership. For more information,
visit: https://enterpriseasia.org/area/.