Mexicali is the most competitive city of Mexico's northern border, according to the 2014 Urban Competitiveness Index (ICU, for its Spanish initials) presented by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), which measures the capacity of Mexican cities to attract and retain talent and investment, in other words, it evaluates the quality of life and business climate of cities.

Baja California's capital is better positioned with regard to its competitiveness than Piedras Negras, Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo, which are the other metropolitan border zones included in the 2014 ICU. Nevertheless, even though the state's capital is the best evaluated border city in the urban competitiveness index, over the past four years, it has gone down four places in the ranking of the best qualified cities, positioning itself 33rd of 78 metropolitan zones that form part of the study.

The study takes into account 90 indicators, which are grouped in a dozen of sub-indexes. These cover everything from the competitiveness in environmental sustainability management, system of rights, inclusive society, up to the political system, government efficiency, and labor market. It also includes topics such as economic stability, precursor sectors, international relations and innovative economic sectors.

According to the study presented by Manuel Molano and Gabriela Alarcon, attaché director general of urban development at IMCO, in the Gustavo Vildosola Castro Auditorium at CETYS Universidad, Mexicali suffers in rubrics related to state of law by being in position 76. With regard to an inclusive society, a stable political system and innovation in economic sectors, the city's competitiveness was qualified as "medium low," while with regard to sustainable management of the environment, efficient government, labor market, stable economy, precursor industries, and taking advantage of international relations, it finds itself in the "medium high" competitiveness group.

Entering into more detail, Gabriela Alarcon commented than in Mexicali there is an ample margin for more compact urban development, especially considering that the growth over the past five years has been unorganized. "Continuing this trend will make managing the city very expensive and will put into risk the population's quality of life," she assured, as there will be more pressure put on the transportation system, which will lead to a scenario of greater road traffic. This is preoccupying because Mexicali is not only the Mexican city with the largest rate of mechanization; it is also the one that possess the largest concentration of particulate matter.

As a result, the specialist recommended the following urban development agenda for Mexicali.

Land management:

Implement a regulatory improvement on the local level to eliminate barriers to formal and organized growth Adapt rural terrains for urban use Prevent new irregular settlements and manage the existing ones Promote development of intra-urban empty lots and underutilized property Finance investment in urban infrastructure through schemes such as contributions for improvement Management and recuperation strategies for abandoned houses (in extreme cases).

Mobility and environment:

To improve air quality it is necessary to attack the two main sources of pollution For the efficient management of water, it is necessary that the CESPM continue to be an organism that: Is autonomous and free of political interests Have a financial sustainability mandate (which covers the necessary to be solvent) but efficient (according to performance indicators). Establishes a collection system that incentivizes rational resource consumption (block tariffs and subsidies to treated water) Publish management and service quality indicators. Regarding the 2014 Municipal Budget Information Index, Alarcon informed that Mexicali only complied with 32.5% of the government accounting requirements and its levels of compliance and transparency have not improved through the years. "The two areas of least transparency were salaries and public debt," she emphasized, reasons for which the IMCO proposes: Complying with the lineaments of the National Council of Accounting Harmonization that the municipality is legally obliged to Institutionalize and adopt the best practices in budget elaboration of budget outcome and income laws Emit rules for resource management and assignation, particularly for wage increases, resignations, savings, and surplus resources. Responsibly use funding instruments

Other conclusions emitted by IMCO under the heading "Inclusive, Prepared, and Healthy Society," are that Mexicali does not have a quality university, an aspect that created controversy among the audience....Continue reading article here

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