2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART I - Public Planning (§§ 1 — 229ccc) › Chapter 6 - New San Juan Center Project (§§ 141 — 157) › § 148 - Acquisition of property

(a) On request of the Corporation, the Governor of Puerto Rico may acquire through purchase, condemnation, or through any other lawful means, in the name and representation of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and for the use and benefit of the Corporation, as provided in this chapter and in the laws of Puerto Rico on condemnation, the title of any property or interest therein that the Corporation may deem necessary or convenient for its purposes including its future needs. The Corporation shall place beforehand at the disposal of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico those funds that may be needed to pay said property and, once same has been acquired, the difference in value decreed by the court may be paid from the Public Treasury, but the Corporation shall be bound to reimburse said difference. Once the total reimbursement has been made, the title of said property shall be transferred to the Corporation upon order of the court through evidence to the effect. In those cases in which the Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico should deem it necessary and convenient that the title to the property and/or rights so acquired be directly recorded in behalf of the Corporation so as to speed up the fulfillment of the ends and purposes for which same was created, he may so request from the court at any time within the condemnation proceedings, and the court shall so order. The power hereby conferred shall not limit or restrain in any wise whatsoever the inherent power of the Corporation to acquire property.
(b) All real and personal property and all rights or interests therein which the Corporation may deem necessary to acquire for carrying out its purposes are hereby declared of public utility, and the same may be condemned by the Corporation without the previous declaration of public utility provided in § 2902 of Title 32.
(c) Condemnation proceedings instituted under the provisions of subsection (g) of § 146 of this title and subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall be prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of §§ 2901-2913 of Title 32, or Act No. 13 of March [May] 16, 1962; and to such effect the Corporation shall enjoy all the rights and shall assume all the obligations prescribed by said act with respect to all expropriating authority.
(d) The power herein granted to the Corporation to condemn shall not be exercised to acquire structures, lands or both, or any interest therein, which are being used for dwelling purposes and are located in areas where the populational density is more than six (6) dwelling units per cuerda.
Should it be necessary for the attainment of the public purposes entrusted by this chapter to the Corporation to acquire structures or lands comprised within the limits established in the preceding paragraph, the Corporation shall take steps so that the Urban Renewal and Housing Corporation or any agency vested by law to deal with urban renewal programs shall carry out the necessary steps for the acquisition of said structures or lands, or both, or any interest therein, subject to the powers and norms governing its governmental function, in accordance with the applicable statutory provisions.
In the event that it be determined that the property so acquired must be transferred to the Corporation, it shall be done subject to the provisions of § 153 of this title.
History —June 23, 1971, No. 81, p. 237, § 8.