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Wednesday, March 15, 2006
RP's most competitive
By Nelson C. Bagaforo
DABAWENYOS have all the reasons to be proud. The past 69 years show the city's transformation into a sprawling and progressive metropolis.
With predominantly migrant population, the city has become a melting pot of cultures where diversity is well appreciated and nurtured in harmonious environment.
This is the reason why the city has continued to pursue a cross sectoral development direction kept on track through the years by the committed efforts of city officials, and participation of the civil society and the business sector.
These development efforts aimed to achieve a sound and viable economy to ensure that the city's population of 1.3 million continues to live in peace and prosperity, at the same time promotes the city as an investment haven that provides investment incentives, coupled with the needed infrastructures and other facilities.
These initiatives have not escaped the notice of institutions and organizations, bestowing the city with recognitions.
If only by the heaps of accolades reaped through the years, Davao City simply leads the way.
From the period 1996-2000, the city made it among the Top 20 Most Liveable Cities in Asia and was among the highest ranked Philippine city, at 17th place, in a survey conducted by the now defunct Asiaweek magazine.
The city has also been cited as Cleanest and Greenest City in the country, Champion in local government performance for USAid-assisted projects, Kalakbay's Destination of the Year, top honors in National Literacy Awards, Best City Library and Most Child-Friendly City in the country.
But what could have been considered a greatest achievement for the city, was the back-to-back honors it achieved as one of the country's Most Competitive Cities based on results of the Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project (PCCRP) study conducted in 2003 and 2005.
The study was spearheaded by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Center, in collaboration with its partner agencies.
The cities -- categorized as metropolitan (cities comprising Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao), mid-sized (non-metro cities that has population of more than 200,000) and small cities (cities with population of less 200,000) -- were ranked based on the seven major drivers of competitiveness adopted from the Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development's World Competitiveness Yearbook.
These drivers are cost of doing business, dynamism of local economy, human resources and training, responsiveness of local government, quality of life, infrastructure, and linkages and accessibility.
The PCCRP study conducted in 2003 by AIM Policy Center and the Department of Trade and Industry showed Davao City among the most competitive cities in the country in metro cities category, just trailing the cities of Cebu and Marikina.
But in 2005, the PCCRP survey showed Davao City as the only metropolitan city outside the National Capital Region that landed in the most competitive cities in the country list.
The study on competitiveness of cities as a place for living and doing business identified the metropolitan cities of Davao, Las Piñas, Makati, Marikina, and Muntinlupa. Cebu City was no longer included in the latest survey.
The 2005 study was conducted by AIM Policy Center in collaboration with the Asia Foundation, United States Agency for International Development (USAid) and the German Development Cooperation.
The results were based on a survey of 65 cities across the country categorized into 13 metropolitan cities, 15 midsized cities and 37 small cities.
Based on the ranking by driver, Davao City ranked first in cost of doing business, second in dynamism of local economy and linkages and accessibility. The city ranked third in infrastructure, fourth in quality of life, sixth in responsiveness of LGU to business needs and 11th in human resources and training.
The study identified 70 indicators, scored, and converted into a ten-point scale based on national and global benchmarks.
The study was designed to promote healthy competition among Philippine cities in order to motivate local government leaders become economic and development managers apart from being providers of outstanding public goods and services.
It encourages local investment boards of all cities nationwide to develop programs that would establish their respective areas as highly conducive to business.
Dr. Federico Macaranas of the AIM Policy Center said the ranking was also intended to recognize the outstanding performance of cities, assess their weaknesses and strengths, and encourage decentralization.
Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from city statistics culled from the official publications of various government agencies and executive surveys administered to owners and managers of small and medium enterprises in the participating cities.
PCCRP 2005 was conceived to gauge the capacity of cities to provide an environment that nurtures the dynamism of its local enterprises and industries.
It assesses the city's general ability to attract investments and entrepreneurs and uplift the living standards of its residents and provides benchmarks that help individual cities in measuring competitiveness.
This latest achievement bestowed on Davao City only proves its capacity and capability to provide better opportunities for investors and its constituents.
At present, the City Government is implementing the recently approved Comprehensive Development Plan that facilitates a directed growth and development. Such plan envisions Davao City as the only metropolitan center in Mindanao, which serves as an alternative international node to balance and diffuse the over-concentration of economic activity in Metro
Manila.
The recognition as the most competitive city in the country can then be used by the city as come-on in its campaign to attract more investments.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (March 15, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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