Resilience, Sustainability: New Indicators for LGU Competitiveness Index

Disaster resiliency and sustainability were among the new indicators added to measure the local government unit’s performance in the economy, infrastructure and governance in the annual Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI), according to the Capitol’s investment office.

The Cebu Investment and Promotions Office (CIPO), the Capitol’s investment arm, said that

just this year, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) has added a fourth criterion and set of indicators in measuring the over-all competitiveness of the local government units.

NCC’s Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index is the yearly measurement of the LGU’s infrastructure, economic dynamism and government efficiency.

It is a scorecard that can be used by potential investors to assess the performance of the LGU.

CIPO development management officer, July Anne Guibone, said the indicators on resilience and sustainability were recently added among the CMCI’s criterion. Resilience indicator will measure the LGUs capability to adjust or adapt to misfortunes following the country’s experience with typhoons and storms, Guibone said.

CMCI now cover almost 1,400 LGUs across the country in a span of four years.

Criteria

The CMCI’s over-all competitiveness rating is the sum of all scores based on the four pillars namely: economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure and resilience and sustainability.

Economic dynamism pertains to the transformation of economic system that reflects market behavior, businesses and general economy. As for government efficiency, it measures opportunities and effectiveness of services of the LGU based on its program, resources, time and cost. Infrastructure covers the fundamental facilities that are necessary for its economy to function, and improve the living condition of the people.

Resilience, the fourth criterion, gauges the LGU’s ability to adapt to changes, calamity or hardships.

Data gathering

CIPO head Roy Soledad said that following this development, his office held a series of orientations among investment officers in the province. He added that the seminar would guide LGUs to appreciate important data needed to qualify for the CMCI, where awardees will be identified this July.

“CIPO facilitated the seminar as it will enable the cities and municipalities to fully understand the importance of data gathering and what data are required (of) in the CMCI.” Soledad said.

The quality of data gathered can elevate the LGU’s ranking in the national level. Soledad explained that the ranking of Cebu Province is reliant upon the scores of the cities and municipalities.

“When the rankings of the cities and municipalities are improved, the over-all ranking of the Province will be elevated, since the score of the Province is highly dependent on their scores.” Soledad said.

In 2015, Cebu Province was named third most competitive province in the country by the NCC. Cebu City was adjudged as the third most competitive city in the country for highly urbanized cities category.

Soledad explained that the LGU can benefit from the data they collected. LGU officials can use that information as tools to assess the competitiveness of their cities or municipalities and identify areas for improvement through policy-making, development planning & investment promotions, he said.

CIPO also launched the Provincial Competitiveness Challenge (PCC) that aims to improve the competitiveness ranking of each cities and municipalities. (Catherine Abadia)

SOURCE: www.cebu.gov.ph