Resident Commissioner and White House delegation see opportunities for development in the South

Press Release

The second day of the agenda of the delegation headed by the delegate of President Donald J. Trump for Puerto Rico together with the resident commissioner, Jenniffer González Colón, focused on seeking to revitalize the southern economy with inspections and meetings in the Port of Ponce, agricultural farm and power generation plants.

"Today, we advance the causes of economic development for Puerto Rico with the delegation of the White House. The combination of infrastructure availability and development of the Port of Ponce for logistics, transportation, value-added areas in combination with the existing Free Zone will allow us to expand the transit of products and merchandise at Ponce docks once repairs and new construction can be linked to Ponce airport, the agricultural industry represented today in the banana sector, the pharmaceutical and energy sector in the south. Today's visits show that spectrum of opportunity. Visits to the South Coast, Ecoelectrica,

Today's visit to the southern coast of Puerto Rico showed the importance and positive impact of the Trump Administration's support for the people of Puerto Rico. Farms, energy facilities, and families affected by hurricanes, earthquakes, and COVID-19 are recovering and moving toward a more resilient and sustainable future. Coordination between federal agencies, their Puerto Rico government counterparts, and local communities continues to improve and will help all of Puerto Rico to be well prepared for the 2020 hurricane season, "said Rear Admiral Brown.

For his part, the White House public policy adviser, Juan Caro, stated that "our visit today gives us a new appreciation for all the hard work done by public and private sector employees to provide stable and reliable energy to the people. from Puerto Rico; and for the thousands of manufacturing and pharmaceutical jobs that support America's essential supply chain. "

In the Port of Ponce, Mayor María "Mayita" Meléndez presented her work plan for the development of the port, tying it to the advantage of having an international airport nearby and thanks to the flexibility of the air cargo rules, which promoted the Commissioner, to be more active in cargo traffic, in addition to passenger traffic.

The mayor emphasized the need for funds and investment to carry out the plans and the benefits for the southern economy, both in areas such as manufacturing and tourism. As part of the meeting, FEMA announced the approval of 10 of 17 reconstruction projects within the port facilities, which will allow the Ponce Port Authority to begin contracting for the design and planning of the work.

Along with the commissioner, was the president of the House of Representatives, Carlos "Johnny" Méndez, who stressed that the impact of Hurricane Maria demonstrated the importance of developing the southern port, with which the secretary of the Department of Economic Development agreed, Manuel Laboy, who spoke that revitalizing the Port of Ponce is an important part of the island's multi-port strategy.

The White House delegation is led by the assistant to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, for the reconstruction of the island, Rear Admiral Peter Brown; EPA Region 2 Administrator Pete López; Juan Caro, White House Public Policy Advisor, FEMA and Department of Energy staff. He was also at the PRFAA, COR3, Emergency Management meetings and the district representative José Alberto Banchs.

The delegation arrived at the Rico Banana farm in Guayanilla, which is an example of the resilience of Puerto Rican businessmen who were hit by Hurricane María, earthquakes, and the pandemic; Today they have a production of 200 thousand boxes of bananas per year, all for sale in Puerto Rico.

There, personnel from the federal agency USDA Rural Development and district representative Víctor Torres joined.

The mayor of Guayanilla, Nelson Torres Yordan, thanked the resident commissioner for working together to advance the Corps of Engineers with the Del Río Guayanilla canalization, a project that both the commissioner and the mayor have promoted since 2017.

The passage of Hurricane Maria and the recent earthquakes in the south have impacted the economic development plans of Puerto Rico and the southern zone. Energy is one of the most important assets in the south with Ecoelectrica and the Costa Sur plant.

Yesterday, the delegation had a round table with the executive director of the Electric Power Authority, José Ortiz, who explained the contingency plans to face emergencies and restore service.

They visited the central warehouse, PREPA has 26 equipment and supply warehouses throughout the island and toured the Palo Seco Central.

Today they visited Costa Sur, the Ecoelectrica and in the afternoon the Santa Isabel wind farm and the AES power plant.

Source