Assessment of the degree of development in Sistan and Baluchestan Province: Application of multi-criteria decision-making methods

The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of development of cities in Sistan and Baluchestan province by using multi-criteria methods and presenting appropriate and effective strategies in this regard. In this study, in view of the diversity of existing criteria, the combination of three multi-criteria approach FAHP, TOPSIS and ENTROPY was used In evaluating the degree of development of the cities of Sistan and Baluchestan Province. For this purpose 65 sub-criteria in the form of education, Sanitary-therapeutic, agricultural, religious-cultural and infrastructural-welfare criteria were selected. Also, among all sub-criteria, public parks area has greatest importance with weights of 0.048. The results indicate that infrastructure-welfare criteria with relative weight of 0.335 paramount importance in the evaluation the degree of development. Based on the results of the different aspects of health care, cultural-religious-welfare infrastructure Zahedan city was recognized as the most advanced city. According to the agricultural and educational sub criteria respectively Zehak and Zabul is the most developed city in Sistan and Baluchestan with a score of 0.526 and 0.691. Final ranking also showed that Zahedan on all criteria with a score of Ci=0.728 by far the most developed city compared to other cities in Sistan and Baluchestan.Zabol city ranked second with and hirmand city with in the most deprived cities in sistan and balouchestan province. The findings indicate that the need for decentralized planning based on resources and constraints is essential and inevitable in order to regional development.