A view of the HCM City skyline seen from the Thủ Thiêm urban area in Thủ Đức City. — VNS Photo Bồ Xuân Hiệp

HCM CITY — HCM City is carrying out a survey of more than 15,000 firms, cooperatives, and business households as part of its 2023 Department and District Competitiveness Index (DDCI).

The survey aims to gather feedback from the businesses and evaluate the competitiveness of the city’s 22 districts, including Thủ Đức City, and 17 departments.

This year, emphasis will be placed on the participation of foreign direct investment (FDI) businesses to assess the effectiveness of investment attraction policies in the city.

The survey will encompass a range of indicators such as transparency, efficiency of departments and agencies, costs, fair competition, business support activities, legal institutions, and the roles of leaders within these organisations.

In addition, factors such as land access, stability of land use, green index, health, and the environment will also be evaluated.

The objective of the index is to assist the city’s departments, agencies, and districts in identifying their strengths and weaknesses, enabling them to make necessary adjustments to create a more favourable environment for investment, production, and business activities across all sectors.

Võ Văn Hoan, vice chairman of the People’s Committee, said to ensure transparency, the city would invite experts from reputable domestic and foreign business associations, institutes, and universities to participate in the assessment process.

While these experts would provide recommendations and solutions based on the survey results, they would not be allowed to interfere with or influence the final outcomes.

The survey results will be announced in February of next year.

In addition to the DDCI, the country’s second largest city is also working on improving other indices such as the Public Administration Reform Index (PAR Index), Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI), and Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI).

This is the second year that the city has conducted the survey.

According to DDCI results from the previous year, which were released in May 2023, the Department of Science and Technology ranked first in the index, followed by the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority, the Department of Industry and Trade, the Department of Culture and Information, and the Department of Justice.

These departments also achieved high scores in criteria such as transparency and access to information, application of information technology and digital transformation, costs, fair competition, business support, legal institutions, creative dynamism, and effectiveness.

The Department of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs ranked at the bottom, ahead of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Department of Transport.

Regarding districts, Phú Nhuận District emerged as the top performer with a score of 78.56, followed by District 11, District 10, and Tân Phú District.

Thủ Đức City, which was formed through the merger of HCM City’s districts 2 and 9 and Thủ Đức District in 2020, ranked at the bottom, ahead of Bình Chánh and Củ Chi outlying districts.

Over 15,000 firms, cooperatives, and business households were invited to participate in the first survey from December 2022 to the end of January 2023. — VNS