The Ministry of Construction and a UN agency have taken the first steps to establishing a City Prosperity Index for Vietnam.
Thiswas announced at a workshop held in Hanoi on November 12, which wastold that more than 50 percent of the world's population lives incities.
Vietnam, as a developing nation, needed a CityProsperity Index so policymakers could effectively plan and manage itsgrowing cities, said Nguyen Quang, the programme manager of UN-Habitatin Vietnam.
"It is important to know where we are on the road toprosperity, and what approaches we must take to achieve sustainabledevelopment," Quang said.
At the workshop, participantsdiscussed the process of building a City Prosperity Index for Vietnam.The ministry has been collecting data to start building the index, buthas run into problems with funding, and a lack of data collectionspecialists.
Construction ministry officials voiced concernsabout limitations and challenges they encountered while collecting data.Poor information management provided inaccurate data with littlecredibility.
"The lack of data collection offices and statisticsspecialists has proven detrimental to the process of gathering datafrom cities and provinces," said Dam Duc Bien, a representative from theministry's Planning and Finance Department.
The ministry shouldprovide more funding and training for data collection officials, andstep up cooperation with the General Statistics Office of Vietnam toimprove data quality, Bien said.
The workshop introduced the CityProfiles of Vietnam, the country's first collection of information fromcities and provinces across the nation. The profiles can be describedas an early-stage prototype of how the City Prosperity Index will work.Some of the profile information will be included in the index.
Theprofiles, created by UN-Habitat, and the Association of Cities ofVietnam and 78 cities and provinces, include statistics updated in 2011on population, infrastructure, culture, education and health care.
Manycities have grown at a rate three times faster than what is required.In the process, this has damaged the environment and distorted socialequity, said Eduardo Lopez Moreno, the head of research and capacitydevelopment for UN- Habitat.
He proposed that Vietnam develop aCPI built on six factors: Productivity, Quality of Life, Infrastructure,Environmental Sustainability, Governance and Equity and SocialInclusion.-VNA
Thiswas announced at a workshop held in Hanoi on November 12, which wastold that more than 50 percent of the world's population lives incities.
Vietnam, as a developing nation, needed a CityProsperity Index so policymakers could effectively plan and manage itsgrowing cities, said Nguyen Quang, the programme manager of UN-Habitatin Vietnam.
"It is important to know where we are on the road toprosperity, and what approaches we must take to achieve sustainabledevelopment," Quang said.
At the workshop, participantsdiscussed the process of building a City Prosperity Index for Vietnam.The ministry has been collecting data to start building the index, buthas run into problems with funding, and a lack of data collectionspecialists.
Construction ministry officials voiced concernsabout limitations and challenges they encountered while collecting data.Poor information management provided inaccurate data with littlecredibility.
"The lack of data collection offices and statisticsspecialists has proven detrimental to the process of gathering datafrom cities and provinces," said Dam Duc Bien, a representative from theministry's Planning and Finance Department.
The ministry shouldprovide more funding and training for data collection officials, andstep up cooperation with the General Statistics Office of Vietnam toimprove data quality, Bien said.
The workshop introduced the CityProfiles of Vietnam, the country's first collection of information fromcities and provinces across the nation. The profiles can be describedas an early-stage prototype of how the City Prosperity Index will work.Some of the profile information will be included in the index.
Theprofiles, created by UN-Habitat, and the Association of Cities ofVietnam and 78 cities and provinces, include statistics updated in 2011on population, infrastructure, culture, education and health care.
Manycities have grown at a rate three times faster than what is required.In the process, this has damaged the environment and distorted socialequity, said Eduardo Lopez Moreno, the head of research and capacitydevelopment for UN- Habitat.
He proposed that Vietnam develop aCPI built on six factors: Productivity, Quality of Life, Infrastructure,Environmental Sustainability, Governance and Equity and SocialInclusion.-VNA
