HCM City (VNS/VNA) — Ho Chi Minh City is carrying outa survey of more than 15,000 firms, cooperatives, and business households aspart of its 2023 Department and District Competitiveness Index (DDCI).

The survey aims to gather feedback from the businesses and evaluatethe competitiveness of the city’s 22 districts, including Thu Duc city, and 17departments.

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

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

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, anddistricts in identifying their strengths and weaknesses, enabling them to makenecessary adjustments to create a more favourable environment for investment,production, and business activities across all sectors.

Vo Van Hoan, vice chairman of the People’s Committee, said to ensuretransparency, the city would invite experts from reputable domestic and foreignbusiness associations, institutes, and universities to participate in theassessment process.

While these experts would provide recommendations and solutions based on thesurvey results, they would not be allowed to interfere with or influence thefinal 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 onimproving other indices such as the Public Administration Reform Index (PARIndex), Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI), and ProvincialCompetitiveness Index (PCI).

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

According to DDCI results from the previous year, which werereleased in May 2023, the Department of Science and Technology ranked first inthe index, followed by the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial ZonesAuthority, the Department of Industry and Trade, the Department of Culture andInformation, and the Department of Justice.

These departments also achieved high scores in criteria such as transparencyand access to information, application of information technology and digitaltransformation, 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 Departmentof Transport.

Regarding districts, Phu Nhuan district emerged as the top performer with ascore of 78.56, followed by District 11, District 10, and Tan Phu district.
Thu Duc city, which was formed through the merger of districts 2and 9 and Thu Duc district in 2020, ranked at the bottom, ahead of Binh Chanhand Cu Chi outlying districts.

Over 15,000 firms, cooperatives, and business households wereinvited to participate in the first survey from December 2022 to the end ofJanuary 2023./.