2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART V - Municipal Development (§§ 5001 — 5216) › Chapter 122 - Martín Peña Canal Special Planning District Integrated Development Act (§§ 5031 — 5066) › § 5035 - Martín Peña Canal ENLACE Project Corporation—Powers

The Corporation shall have all the rights, powers, and prerogatives provided by this chapter or by the laws or programs whose administration or implementation is delegated to it in order to adequately comply with the public policy established herein, among which shall be:
(a) To adopt its corporate seal.
(b) To sue and be sued.
(c) To execute any kinds of acts and contracts and agreements, including those related to goods and services.
(ch) To acquire and alienate property for any consideration.
(d) To acquire, build, improve, operate and maintain projects within the Special Planning District of the Martín Peña Canal, as well as any property related to such projects.
(e) To have officers and employees.
(f) To establish regulations for its organization, operations, and the discharge of their powers and authorities.
(g) To receive the services of the employees of public agencies, with the consent of said public agencies, to carry out any study, investigation or activity of the Corporation that is necessary or convenient for compliance with the purposes of this chapter.
(h) To receive and accept funds and donations from any public agency of the Government of Puerto Rico, the Government of the United States of America, municipalities and nonprofit entities in order to achieve the purposes of this chapter and comply with the terms and requirements with respect to any funds or donations received.
(i) To procure and obtain from the public agencies any technical and financial assistance of any nature that it deems necessary in order to fulfill the functions of the Corporation.
(j) To have exclusive control over its property and activities and to decide the nature of and need for all its expenditures, and the manner in which they shall be incurred, authorized and paid.
(k) To establish the fees and charges to be collected for the use of the property it owns.
(l) To create by resolution the subsidiaries it deems convenient to carry out any of its functions, in the manner provided below.
(m) To lend or donate money to its subsidiaries and to purchase and sell or exchange stock, bonds or other obligations thereof.
(n) To lend money, with a secured mortgage, under the terms it deems convenient, to any developer that is organized to carry out developments in the District.
(o) To borrow money for any of its corporate goals, including, without limitation, the purpose to consolidate, reconsolidate, purchase, pay or cancel any outstanding bonds or other obligations issued or assumed by it, whose principal and interest are payable in whole or in part from the revenues of the corporate entity.
(p) To provide any kind of financial assistance to private entities, including incentives and subsidies, loans or technical assistance to carry out social, economic, urban, housing, or environmental developments, projects, programs, or activities in accordance with the purposes of this chapter, with special interest in the G-8 and community-based organizations in the District.
(q) To sell or discount, in public or private transactions, mortgages or other valuable titles under its control.
(r) To manage any of its projects in the manner to be determined by regulations, including, without it being understood as a limitation, the rental of housing or businesses units, placing them under a trust, and lending them for use under any title.
(s) To participate jointly with the public agencies and the residents of the District in the coordination of initiatives in the District.
(t) To participate jointly with the public agencies and the residents of the District in planning the integrated development of the lands that constitute the District, in accordance with the provisions of the laws and regulations in effect.
(u) To enter, with prior permission of its owners, holders or representatives, any lands, bodies of water or property in order to carry out measuring, surveys or studies for the purposes of this chapter, and if the owners, holders or representatives, refuse to grant their permission to enter the lands, bodies of water or property for the aforementioned purposes, any judge of the Court of First Instance shall issue an order to authorize this, upon presentation of a sworn statement declaring the Corporation’s intention of entering the lands, bodies of water or property described in the sworn statement, for the purposes stated in this provision and in the case that no known owners, holders or representatives appear, the Corporation, through its officers or employees, may enter without any permission.
(v) To carry out all actions or do all things necessary or convenient to execute the powers conferred upon the Corporation by this chapter or by any other law of the Puerto Rico Legislature, exercising its public and essential government functions with respect to the integrated development of the ENLACE Project and in joint participation with other public agencies in the coordination of efforts made with respect to such development, for which the execution of the powers and faculties conferred thereto by this chapter shall at no time have the effect of vesting the Corporation with the characteristics of a private entity.
(w) To participate in the planning, design and construction of the buildings, works, structures, infrastructure and others necessary for the integrated development of the ENLACE Project.
(x) To solicit, accept and obtain any funds, donations, usufruct, trusts or technical or economic assistance from the federal government, the government of the Commonwealth, including its instrumentalities and political subdivisions, or from private sources, in order to carry out the purposes of the Corporation and the purposes provided in this chapter; to sponsor projects initiated under federal laws or programs; to act as a delegating or delegatory agency; and to supervise the use of the funds thus obtained.
(y) To issue and sell participating bonds as a method for raising funds for the Corporation, which shall be sold among the communities and private enterprises, and the returns of which, in [the form of] interest, shall be exempted from the payment of income tax and all types of taxation.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned in this section, the actions carried out by the Corporation, or any other office or instrumentality created pursuant to this chapter, may not be in contravention to the public policy of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its offices, public agencies, instrumentalities or public corporations, as provided by law.
History —Sept. 24, 2004, No. 489, § 6; Aug. 14, 2013, No. 104, § 6.