2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART II - Economic Development (§§ 231-241 — 695i) › Chapter 32 - Port of Ponce Authority (§§ 541 — 547) › § 541 - Definitions

For purposes of this chapter, the following words shall have the meaning detailed hereinbelow:
(a) Federal agency.— The United States of America, its President, any of the departments of the Executive Branch of the Government of the United States of America, or any corporation, agency, or instrumentality created or to be created, designated, or established by the United States of America.
(b) Navigable waters of the Port of the Americas.— The navigable waters of the Government of Puerto Rico adjacent to the Port of the Americas, whose control and dominion by the Authority are necessary and convenient for the efficient operation of the Port of Ponce.
(c) Authority.— The Port of Ponce Authority created by this chapter, which shall have the functions, duties, powers, and prerogatives granted to the Port of the Americas Authority, created by virtue of §§ 2901 et seq. of this title, with the exception that the obligations of this new Authority shall not been guaranteed by the General Fund of the Government of Puerto Rico.
(d) Bonds.— The bonds, temporary bonds, refinancing bonds, provisional bonds, notes, promissory notes, receipts, certificates, or any other evidence of debt of the Authority issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
(e) Executive Director.— The Executive Director of the Port of Ponce Authority.
(f) Emergency.— Any situation which requires immediate action because the life or health of one or more persons is at risk, because there is a risk of damage or loss of public property, or because there is a risk of suspending or adversely affecting public service.
(g) Contracted entity.— The private or public natural or juridical person, or consortium thereof, selected by the Port of Ponce Authority to operate, maintain, or develop value-added areas for the Port of the Americas.
(h) Franchise.— The franchise granted in 1911 by the Executive Council to the Municipality of Ponce by virtue of which the Administrative Board of the Ponce Municipal Docks was created and which is currently under the jurisdiction of the Puerto Rico Public Service Commission.
(i) Board or Board of Directors.— The Board of Directors of the Port of Ponce Authority, whose members shall consist of three (3) directors of the Board of Directors of the Port of the Americas Authority who are currently in office, the Mayor of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, and three (3) residents of the municipalities that make up Desarrollo Integral del Sur, Inc. (DISUR).
(j) Municipal Legislature.— Means the municipal legislative power of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, pursuant to the provisions of §§ 4001 et seq. of Title 21, known as the “Puerto Rico Autonomous Municipalities Act”.
(k) Dock.— All useful facilities on land for docking ships or for loading or unloading persons or goods at the Port of the Americas.
(l) Business.— Shall mean any commercial activity that involves real property, personal property, or a combination thereof and is owned, managed, controlled, or used by the Port of Ponce Authority; or that is destined to be owned, operated, managed, controlled, or used in connection with any of its activities, including, but not limited to projects consisting of one or more ports, piers, docks, retaining walls, loading bays, dam, roads for vehicles, rails, pipes, buildings, warehouses, or other facilities necessary or convenient to accommodate ships and any other vessels and their cargo and passengers.
(m) Person.— Any natural or juridical person, including, but not limited to any government agency or instrumentality or any public or private individual, firm, partnership, stock company, association, or corporation organized or existing under the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States of America or any of its states, or any foreign country, any federal agency, or any combination of the foregoing.
(n) Property.— Any property, whether real or personal, tangible, or intangible.
(o) Port of Ponce or Port of the Americas.— The navigable waters of the Port of Ponce necessary for the operation of the Port of the Americas and its dockland port zone, maritime-terrestrial zone, lands submerged under port waters, and adjacent lands included in the geographic area within which transshipment or tourists activities located in the southern region of Puerto Rico are conducted, including bays, piers, berths, wharves, breakwaters, dikes, harbors, railroad connections, sidings, pull-ins, or other buildings, structures, facilities, or improvements used for navigation, the accommodation of ships and their cargo, the storage of cargo and containers, the handling of cargo and containers, transshipment activities, and any other activity incidental to the foregoing. The Board of Directors of the Port of Ponce Authority shall determine the scope of the geographic area that will comprise the Port of the Americas.
(p) Rate.— Any fee, rent, charge, or quota fixed by the Port of Ponce Authority or the operator of the Port of Ponce, with the previous approval of the Board of Directors of the Authority, for services rendered or for the use of the facilities under its control.
(q) Bondholder.— Any person who is the bearer of any outstanding bond, whether or not recorded in his/her name, or the owner, according to the registry, of any outstanding bond that as of that date is recorded in the name of a person other than the bearer.
(r) Maritime-Terrestrial zone.— Shall mean the portions of the coasts of Puerto Rico touched by the sea during its ebb and flow and where tides are noticeable, and the portions of the coasts touched by the largest waves during a storm where tides are not noticeable, including the lands gained from the sea, accretions, and river banks up to the place where they are navigable or the tides are noticeable.
(s) Port zone.— That part of the maritime-terrestrial zone and other land adjacent to the port that is demarcated by the Board as a port zone of the Port of Ponce or the Port of the Americas.
History —Dec. 12, 2011, No. 240, § 2.