The federal board overseeing Puerto Rico’s finances yesterday asked the bankrupt U.S. territory to submit a new fiscal turnaround plan by Dec. 22, taking into account damage caused by Hurricane Maria, Reuters reported. Speaking at the board’s public meeting in San Juan, Executive Director Natalie Jaresko said the board would approve or reject the revised draft by Jan. 12. The meeting, the first since Maria made landfall on Sept. 20, is a shift back to focusing on Puerto Rico’s troubled finances, which have taken a back seat in recent weeks as the island has tried to recover from the hurricane. Maria decimated Puerto Rico’s infrastructure, killing at least 50 people and knocking out power to all 3.4 million residents. Six weeks later, just 30 percent of power has been restored. Before the storm, the board and Governor Ricardo Rosselló had agreed on a 10-year blueprint for how to reverse the island’s decade-long recession and restructure a crushing $72 billion debt load. The new plan must be for five years instead of 10, and like the original blueprint it should focus on promoting new investment, including through pension reform and corporate tax reform, Jaresko said. Read more.
In related news, Puerto Rico called on U.S. mainland utilities to help restore power nearly 6 weeks after Hurricane Maria knocked out electric service to all of the U.S. territory’s 3.4 million residents, Reuters reported. Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) Executive Director Ricardo Ramos sent a letter yesterday to utility industry trade groups requesting assistance from U.S. mainland utilities, they said. Restoration of power on the island will now shift toward other utilities and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after the Puerto Rican government removed a small Montana contractor. Puerto Rico canceled a $300 million contract between PREPA and Whitefish Energy Holdings, which had been rebuilding the island’s power system since early October. The Army Corps said that it planned to boost the size of a contract awarded to engineering firm Fluor Corp by $600 million, to $840 million, according to a government filing. Read more.
