2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART II - Economic Development (§§ 231-241 — 695i) › Chapter 25 - Puerto Rico Ports Authority (§§ 331 — 355-357) › § 336 - Powers

The purposes of the Authority shall be to develop and improve, own, operate, and manage any and all types of air and marine transportation facilities and services, as well as to establish and manage mass marine transportation systems in, to and from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico on its own, or in coordination with other government, corporate or municipal entities, and make available the benefits thereof in the most extensive and least costly manner, thereby promoting the general welfare and increasing commerce and prosperity; and the Authority is granted, and shall have and may exercise all rights and powers that are necessary or convenient to carry out the aforesaid purposes, including the following, but not without limiting the generality of the foregoing:
(a) To have perpetual existence as a corporation.
(b) To adopt, alter, and use a corporate seal, which shall be judicially noticed.
(c) To prescribe, adopt, amend, and repeal bylaws governing the manner in which its general business may be conducted and the powers and duties granted to and imposed upon it by law may be exercised and performed.
(d) To have complete control and supervision of any undertaking constructed or acquired by it including the power to determine the character of and necessity for all its expenditures and the manner in which they shall be incurred, allowed and paid without regard to the provisions of any laws governing the expenditure of public funds, and such determination shall be final and conclusive upon all officers of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and to prescribe, adopt, amend, and repeal such rules and regulations as may be necessary or proper for the exercise and performance of its powers and duties or to govern the rendering, sale, or exchange of transportation service or facilities.
(e) To sue and be sued.
(f) To make contracts and to execute all instruments necessary or convenient in the exercise of any of its powers.
(g) To prepare, or cause to be prepared, plans, designs, and estimates of costs for the construction, reconstruction, extension, improvement, enlargement, or repair of any undertaking or any part or parts thereof, and from time to time to modify such plans, designs, or estimates.
(h) To acquire in any lawful manner including, but without limitation, acquisition by purchase, whether by agreement or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain, lease, bequest, devise, gift, and to hold, maintain, use and operate any undertaking or part or parts thereof.
(i) To acquire in the manner set forth in subsection (h) hereof, produce, develop, manufacture, hold, conserve, use, distribute, supply, exchange, sell, rent and otherwise dispose of any and all equipment, supplies, services, goods, and such other property real and personal as the Authority shall deem necessary, proper, incidental, or convenient in connection with its activities.
(j) To acquire in the manner set forth in subsection (h) of this section hereof and to hold and use any property, real, personal, or mixed, tangible or intangible, or any interest therein, deemed by it to be necessary or convenient for carrying out the purposes of the Authority, and (subject to the limitations contained in §§ 331—352 of this title) to lease as lessor, or exchange, any property or interest therein at any time acquired by it.
(k) To construct, reconstruct, and operate any undertaking or any part or parts thereof, and any additions, improvements, and extensions to any undertaking of the Authority by contract or contracts, or under, through, or by means of its own officers, agents, and employees.
(l)
(1) To determine, fix, alter, impose and collect rates, fees, rents and other charges for the use of the facilities or services of the Authority, or other commodities sold, rendered, or furnished by the Authority, which shall be fair and reasonable. Said rates, fees, rents and other charges, shall be sufficient, at least to:
(A) Cover the expenses incurred by the Authority for the preservation, development, improvement, extension, repair, conservation and operation of its installations, facilities, properties and services;
(B) pay principal and interests on any of the Authority’s bonds and to comply with the terms and provisions of the agreements made with, or for the benefit of the purchasers or holders of said bonds, and
(C) encourage the use of the Authority’s facilities and services in the most ample and varied manner that is financially feasible.
The Board may make changes to the general rate structure and if it deems that their immediate effectiveness is necessary in case of a temporary or emergency increase, it will file the rate regulations at the Department of State in accordance with the provisions of §§ 2101 et seq. of Title 3 and will hold a hearing within thirty (30) days of their filing.
(2) To determine, fix, alter, impose and collect rates, fees, rentals and other charges for the use of the facilities owned and the services in the International Airport and the other airports owned and operated by the Ports Authority, as well as the maritime and port facilities owned or operated by the Authority, all the standards established in clause (1) of this subsection shall be met. Without it being construed as a limitation of said standards, the following criteria shall be also be followed as discretionary guidelines which can be used to determine the reasonability of said rates, fees, rentals and other charges:
(A) Any fee or charge on aviation fuel which the Authority may receive shall not be taken into account for the purpose of compensating the expenses thus producing some kind of reduction in the rates, fees, rentals and other charges that the users should pay to the airports.
(B) The income of the Authority by reason of a grant, lease or other similar service in the airports shall not be taken into account for the purpose of compensating the expenses thus producing some reduction in the rates, fees, rentals and other charges that the users thereof must pay.
(C) Through the general structure of rates, fees, rentals and other charges, the Authority shall recover:
(i) A reasonable portion of the expenses of the Central Office of the Authority, after deducting the reasonable proportion that may correspond to the Isla Grande Division.
(ii) The expenses of the Aviation Department of the Authority, including the management, operation and maintenance expenses.
(iii) The interest on the total of the investment of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and of the Authority, including both the depreciable assets and nondepreciable assets.
(iv) Charges for depreciation on all depreciable assets existing in airports as a result of the investments made therein by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and by the Authority.
(D) In the landing strips, in the passenger and freight terminals and in the other facilities of each airport there shall be established divisions and subdivisions separated from costs for the purpose of determining what should reasonably be collected for the use of the facilities or services of each one of said divisions and subdivisions.
(E) Upon fixing rates and other charges at passenger terminals, the costs of the waiting and public circulation space shall be distributed among the lessees who occupy the rentable area.
(F) Upon fixing rentals and other charges in the passenger terminals the costs of the baggage-claim area and adjacent areas for baggage cars shall be distributed exclusively among the airlines using said areas.
(G) Upon fixing the rates and other charges for the use of landing strips there shall be used as a unit of measurement the maximum gross weight authorized to the airplane for the taking off, and there shall not be granted deduction for quantity.
(H) Upon fixing the rates and other charges for the use of landing strips as concerns air carriers operating in Puerto Rico or between Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands showing higher operation costs or a capacity to pay less than those carriers operating between Puerto Rico and the Continental United States or between Puerto Rico and foreign countries, there shall be established a reasonable differential for the “local” flights, that is, flights to points located in Puerto Rico and in the Virgin Islands, so that for said flights the rates, fees and charges be proportionally lower than the rates, fees and charges applicable to flights to the Continental United States or foreign countries.
(I) Through the general structure of rates, fees, rentals and other charges, the Authority shall recover any other increases as may be necessary or convenient to allow or facilitate the issuance of the bonds that the Authority may from time to time determine to authorize, issue, sell or have in circulation in accordance with the provisions of §§ 331—352 of this title.
(J) Upon fixing the rentals and other charges that the Authority shall impose upon, and collect from the users who are not air carriers, there shall be taken into consideration that such users must pay such rates, fees, rentals and other charges so as to render the maximum economic yield to the Ports Authority.
(3) The Authority’s administrative procedures shall be governed by §§ 2101 et seq. of Title 3, and by the regulations adopted by the Board thereunder.
(m) To appoint such officers, agents, and employees and vest them with such powers and duties, and to fix, change, and pay such compensation for their services as the Authority may determine.
(n) To borrow money, make and issue bonds of the Authority for any of its corporate purposes or for the purpose of financing, refinancing, paying or discharging any of the outstanding or assumed bonds or obligations and to secure payment of its bonds and of any and all other obligations by pledge or mortgage of any other lien on all or any of its contracts, revenues, income or property.
(o) To make and issue bonds for the purpose of funding, refunding, purchasing, paying, or discharging any of the outstanding bonds or obligations issued or assumed by it or any bonds or obligations the principal or interest of which is payable in whole or in part from its revenues.
(p) To accept grants from, and enter into contracts, leases, agreements, or other transactions with, any federal agency, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or political subdivisions of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and to expend the proceeds of any such grants for any corporate purposes.
(q) To sell, or otherwise dispose of any real, personal or mixed property or any interest thereon, that in the judgment of the Board is no longer needed for the Authority’s business or to carry out the purposes of §§ 331—352 of this title.
(r) To enter on any lands, waters, or premises, after notifying the owners or holders thereof, or their representatives, for the purpose of making surveys, soundings, or examinations.
(s) To acquire, hold and dispose of stock, membership rights, contracts, bonds or other interest in other corporations and to exercise any and all powers and rights related to them and obtain the organization in accordance with the law and exercise partial or complete control over subsidiary, affiliated or associate corporations provided that, in the Board’s opinion, such an arrangement is necessary, appropriate or convenient to carry out the purposes of the Authority or the exercise of its powers; and sell, lease, donate or otherwise grant any of the Authority’s property, or delegate or transfer any of its rights, powers, functions or duties to any of these corporations that are subject to its control. The aforementioned power to delegate or transfer shall not be extended to the right to expropriate or fix rates which must be exercised directly by the Authority.
(t) All grants of franchises, rights and privileges of public or quasi-public nature to public carriers of persons or property made by the Public Service Commission shall contain provisions requiring the grantee thereof to comply with the regulations of the Authority and providing for the termination of said franchise upon failure so to comply.
(u) The Authority shall obtain, by electronic or manual means, the necessary statistical data regarding the number of travelers, expenses incurred, satisfaction and interests of same, among others, from the air and marine transport companies that use its facilities, to develop a data base for effective planning and marketing of tourism activities, and such data shall be confidential in nature, and the detailed, aggregated figures shall be available to students, universities, press, government agencies, and the tourism businesses that supply same, as well as to potential investors, with prior request submitted to the Authority. This provision shall not diminish the powers granted to other agencies, dependencies, or instrumentalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico that handle matters of this same sort.
The Authority shall approve a regulation to ensure compliance with this subsection within a term of ninety (90) days after the approval of this act.
(v) To do all acts or things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers granted to it by §§ 331—352 of this title or by any other act of the Legislature of Puerto Rico, or by any act of the Congress of the United States; Provided, however, That the Authority shall have no power at any time or in any manner to pledge the credit or taxing power of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any of its political subdivisions, nor shall the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any of its political subdivisions be liable for the payment of the principal or of interest on any bonds issued by the Authority.
History —May 7, 1942, No. 125, p. 710, § 6; Apr. 21, 1948, No. 27, p. 56; May 14, 1952, No. 463, p. 976, § 5; June 26, 1959, No. 85, p. 236, § 1; May 22, 1968, No. 47, p. 73; Aug. 17, 1989, No. 65, p. 270, § 5; Aug. 14, 1998, No. 243, § 1; May 15, 2003, No. 128, § 1, eff. 90 days after May 15, 2003.