2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART IV - Navigation and Marine Trade (§§ 2101 — 3223) › Chapter 102 - Port Authority of the Americas (§§ 2901 — 2923) › § 2908 - Statement of public utility; acquisition of properties through eminent domain

(a) All real or personal properties and all rights or interests thereon which the Authority deems necessary to acquire to achieve its purposes are hereby declared to be of public utility. Such properties may be expropriated without the prior statement of public utility provided in the eminent domain proceeding. The eminent domain process may be filed directly by the Authority on its own behalf or filed at the Authority’s request following the procedure described in subsection (b) of this section when the Board deems it convenient. An eminent domain proceeding initiated pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be processed in the manner provided by this chapter and in accordance with the provisions of the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico regarding eminent domain.
(b) At the Authority’s request, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall be authorized to purchase, whether by agreement or by exercising the power of eminent domain, or by any other legal means, any property or interest thereon which the Board deems necessary or convenient for the Authority’s purposes. The Authority may place in advance at the disposal of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico those funds that may be needed to pay for said property, and once the same is acquired, it may reimburse to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico any sum paid which was not previously delivered. In making such reimbursement to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the title to said property so acquired shall be passed on to the Authority. The Secretary of Transportation and Public Works, with the approval of the Governor, may make the arrangements he or she deems appropriate for the exploitation and control of such property by the Authority during the period before said title is passed on to the Authority. In those cases in which the property has been acquired with funds of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Authority does not have the monies to reimburse all of said funds to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Governor, if deemed necessary and convenient, may provide that the title to the assets and/or rights so acquired must be recorded directly in favor of the Authority to expedite compliance with the ends and purposes for which it was created. The Governor may so request from the court at any time within the eminent domain procedure, and the court shall so order. Provided, That, as part of said transfer, a settlement agreement shall be executed between the Authority and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico whereby the Authority agrees to repay the value of such expropriation or any other legal means used to acquire ownership of the property. In those cases, as well as in cases of acquisition by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in favor of the Authority after advance payment by the Authority to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Registrar of the Property shall proceed to record, preferentially and expeditiously, the title to the assets or rights in question in favor of the Authority, upon presentation for registration of the pertinent documentation. The faculty hereby conferred shall not limit or restrict in any manner whatsoever the Authority’s power to acquire properties through purchase or through eminent domain proceedings filed directly by the Authority on its own behalf. The title to any property of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico which is considered necessary or convenient for the Authority’s purposes may be transferred to the Authority by the officer in charge or in custody of said property, through terms and conditions that shall be set by the Governor.
(c) The provisions of this section shall not limit the provisions of § 2910(d)(2) of this title.
(d) The Authority shall not have the power to acquire through eminent domain the properties of the Municipality of Ponce at the Ponce port.
History —Aug. 11, 2002, No. 171, § 9.