Government pursuing ‘smaller-scale’ P3 agreements
Grace Santana, head of the P3 Authority
The Gov. García-Padilla administration is looking to broaden the scope of possibilities regarding the establishment of public-private partnerships, or P3s, through legislation that would allow smaller scale projects, P3 Authority Executive Director Grace Santana said.
Through a pair of bills filed Tuesday — House Bill 2114 and Senate Bill 1187 — the administration seeks to open the door for P3s worth $50 million or less, which can be completed quicker, she said.
“There are few large-scale projects that the P3 Authority is address, but an opportunity has come up for the development of small-scale projects that would create jobs immediately and certainly also have the potential to give an injection to the construction industry and contribute to Puerto Rico’s economic reconstruction,” said Santana.
During the recently held General Contractors Association annual convention, García-Padilla unveiled amendments to the P3 Authority’s law, paving the way for small-scale projects.
“There is a real need to provide and make available this mechanism to enable, in the short term, the establishment of smaller scale projects, representing a valuable contribution to our municipalities,” said Santana.
As part of the initiative, the P3 Authority would establish a division to handle such smaller proposals, she said.
“There is no way we can start Puerto Rico’s economic reconstruction if these alliances are not possible. It becomes increasingly more relevant than the private and public sectors understand each other and work together for the benefit of both,” Santana added.
It will be positive to see a greater use of the P3 Authority mechanism during the remainder of the term. The Authority can already use the invaluable P3 mechanism to advance smaller projects. In fact, during the years I oversaw the agency’s activities as the Governor’s designee, in addition to making the final selection of the award of the two large P3 contracts—LMM airport and the PR22/PR5 tollways—I also signed off on dozens of less-than-$50 million school P3 projects.