MAYOR Mauricio Domogan rued the lack of infrastructure projects causing Baguio City to drop into the top 15 in the recent survey of National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines.
Topping the list of overall most competitive Highly Urbanized Cities is Quezon City followed by Makati City at 2nd and the City of Manila at 3rd place.
The rank was based on three aspects of the City's performance of which the City ranked 21st on economic dynamism, 36th on infrastructure projects implementation and 7th in government efficiency.
"Recently natanggap natin yung index ng city's competitiveness at ang nagpababa dito ay ang infrastructure projects implementation last year. We are ranked 19 sa infrastructure and now we are ranked 36th," Domogan said during his weekly Ugnayang Panlungsod.
For highly urbanized cities category, the city ranked 14 out of 40 cities.
Of which the Summer Capital ranked 17 on economic dynamism, 27th on infrastructure projects implementation and remained 7th on government efficiency.
"Isa sa ating mga nakitang dahilan ng pagbaba ng ating infrastructure rating ay yung ating pending zoning ordinance at safety land use plan," Domogan narrated.
Low infrastructure project implementation can be attributed to delayed passage of budget, projects included in the annual investment plan were not funded and the unfinished construction and road works.
"Yung mga identified priorities natin yun sana ang unahin, hindi yung bakbak tayo ng bakbak ng mga daan, kung sira ang drainage unahin munang ayusin yung bago ayusin yung daan, para hindi tayo nagbabakbak ng mga daan na kakagawa lang," Domogan stated.
Domogan is hoping the City Council to measures to fast track implementation of infrastructure projects together with the revenue increase which will address the backlogs of the City.
"The Council should pass measures which can help us implement our infrastructure projects and increase the revenue of Baguio so that we could implement and construct needed infrastructures," Domogan said.