2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE NINE - Highways and Traffic (§§ 1-8 — 5725) › Chapter 15 - Highway and Transportation Authority (§§ 2001 — 2035) › § 2004a - Contracts for construction, operation and maintenance, transit and transportation facilities, bridges, highways, avenues and expressways with private entities, as well as of financing and bond issue

(1) The Authority or the Department of Transportation and Public Works may contract with private entities, and through the use of private funds, the final design, construction, operation and maintenance of new transit and transportation facilities, highways, bridges, avenues, expressways and ancillary transit facilities, and digital signs or billboards intended for disseminating information about missing children upon the issuance of an Amber Alert (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response), or broadcasting emergency information or warnings through the Emergency Broadcast System in the event of meteorological emergencies or information relevant to highway conditions, subject to the following conditions:
(a) The transit and transportation facilities, highways, bridges, avenues or expressways, and ancillary transit facilities or digital signs or billboards intended for disseminating information upon the issuance of an Amber Alert or in the case of warnings or emergencies, shall be public property.
(b) The preliminary design of the project may be commissioned to any natural or juridical person authorized by law and chosen by the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works or the Authority, except that it may not be the same private entity contracted for the construction. The private entity hired for the construction shall be in charge of the final design, to be made by a legally authorized person, as well as of the operation and maintenance of the transit and transportation facility, highway, bridge, avenue or expressway, and ancillary transit facilities, or digital signs or billboards intended for disseminating information upon the issuance of an Amber Alert or in the case of warnings or emergencies, or information on highway conditions.
(c) The easements needed to operate the transit and transportation facility, highway, bridge, avenue or expressway, and the ancillary transit facilities; or to place the digital signs or billboards for information on the issuance of an Amber Alert or of warnings or emergencies, or relevant information on highway conditions, shall belong to the Commonwealth or the Authority.
(d) The land and other properties or rights required for the construction of the transit and transportation facility, highway, bridge, avenue or expressway, and the transit facilities thereof; or to place digital signs or billboards for information on the issuance of an Amber Alert or of warnings or emergencies, or relevant information on highway conditions, shall be acquired by the Commonwealth, whether or not it is financed by the private entity hired for the final design, construction, operation, and maintenance works. The private entity hired for such purposes may acquire, pursuant to the rules prescribed by the Authority for such purposes, the land, properties, or rights directly from the owners thereof by means of purchase, in which case it shall transfer them immediately to the Commonwealth. If an acquisition by means of eminent domain is required, the hired private entity may be required to advance to the Commonwealth any amounts needed for the acquisition of the land, properties, or rights in question. In cases of voluntary purchase as well as in cases of eminent domain, acquisition costs shall include relocation costs of the affected persons pursuant to applicable laws and any other expenses incidental to the acquisition of the right in question.
(e) The contract shall include, in addition to the final design and construction, the operation and maintenance of the transit and transportation facility, highway, bridge, avenue or expressway, and ancillary transit facilities or digital signs or billboards for information on the issuance of an Amber Alert or of warnings or emergencies, or relevant information on highway conditions.
(f) The private entity to whom the contract is awarded shall give a bond that guarantees to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, faithful compliance with all obligations under the contract, the amount of which bond shall be established by the Authority or the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works, using as a criterion the investment contemplated for the project or the work or stage in question.
(g) The contract shall include an indemnity clause whereby the private entity agrees to defend and to indemnify the Commonwealth and the Authority against any claim filed under § 422 of Title 3, or under §§ 5141, 5142, 5146, 5147 and 5148 of Title 31. This obligation shall be secured or covered by a public liability insurance policy that shall cover the Commonwealth and the Authority as insureds. The sums or amounts to be secured by said policy shall be fixed by the Authority or the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works and their decision shall be affirmed by the evaluation of a professional with expertise in the insurance field concerning the risks involved in each design, construction, operation, and maintenance phase of the transit and transportation facility, the public highway, or digital signs or billboards for information on the issuance of an Amber Alert or of warnings or emergencies, or information on highway conditions object of the contract.
(h) The contract may be assigned or encumbered with the prior written consent of the Adjudications Board. The Board cannot deny its consent except for just cause. The assignment shall only be authorized if the assignee is a private entity that meets the requirements and conditions established in this chapter. Said requirement shall not be demanded of a mere holder of an encumbrance.
(i) The term of the contract, in relation to the operation, administration and maintenance phases of the project, shall not exceed fifty (50) years.
(j) Once the term of the contract has expired, the operation, administration and maintenance of the project shall pass on to the government, with no cost to it.
(k) Once the construction phase of the project is concluded, the private entity shall be responsible for maintaining the transit and transportation facility, highway, bridge, avenue or expressway, and ancillary transit facilities or digital signs or billboards for information on the issuance of an Amber Alert or of warnings or emergencies or information on highway conditions, under proper conditions of use.
(2) The phases of the contract pertaining to the construction, operation, administration and maintenance of public highways and their ancillary facilities, shall be considered to all legal purposes as an eligible activity covered by Supplement P of Act No. 91 of June 29, 1954.
(3) The Authority is empowered to negotiate and award contracts to finance, to issue bonds and any other contracts and instruments necessary or convenient to exercise the powers and functions conferred on the Authority and on the Secretary under §§ 2004a-2004c of this title in order to expedite financing of any project authorized under said §§ 2004a-2004c.
(4) The contracts referred to in this section and in § 2004b of this title, whose purpose is the construction and repair of pedestrian bridges or overpasses for vehicles and pedestrians whose design stage begins as of June 1, 2012, shall include a safety fence as an essential part of the work, provided, that the structural conditions of the bridge allow for including the same in the design and that a certification is issued by a structural engineer licensed by the College of Engineers and Land Surveyors of Puerto Rico. Such fence shall cover pedestrian bridges or comply with the height established through regulations adopted by the Highways and Transportation Authority (HTA) in those bridges through which vehicles and persons pass.
History —June 23, 1965, No. 74, p. 158, added as § 4-A on Aug. 24, 1990, No. 4, p. 1400, § 1; Aug. 26, 2005, No. 84, § 3; May 24, 2012, No. 97, § 1; Dec. 27, 2013, No. 174, § 1.