CARRAIZO WATER RATIONING ENDS
Alberto Lázaro, the President of Puerto Rico's water utility (AAA), has
announced that due to increases in the water level at the Carraízo reser-
voir, water rationing for users served by Carraízo is ending today, Mon-
day. Residents of Trujillo Alto, Carolina and parts of San Juan, Gurabo
and Canóvanas will no longer have to deal with water cut-offs, although
water pressure will be controlled as a precautionary measure. Starting at
9:00 AM today, service is being reestablished in full for all areas served
by Carraízo. La Plata, the other reservoir that serves the San Juan metro
area, is still under a rationing plan, despite some recent gains in the water
levels. In the Carraízo zones, fines for water misuse are still in effect, and
Lázaro discouraged users from watering lawns or washing cars. He also
indicated that the reservoir has enough water to avoid more rationing for
about three months.
TREASURY: MONEY TO RUN OUT IN 6 WEEKS
From The San Juan Daily Star:
Describing the government as “an old car that doesn’t get good mileage
and is running with barely any gasoline,”Treasury Secretary Juan Zara-
goza said Thursday that in all likelihood, in about one month and a half
government coffers will run out of cash. The situation is such that the
Treasury chief said in a radio interview that “this a chronicle of a death
foretold.” Zaragoza made his co- mments after the government’s liquidity
problems came into sharper focus in an analysis drafted by Conway Mac
Kenzie (CM), which sets out that the government will have an overdraft
of $765 million by November.
NSF AWARDS $3.8M TO UPR MEDICAL SCIENCES
From Caribbean Business:
The Medical Sciences Campus of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) has
received a $3.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF)
for an international collaboration studying the neural mechanism of deci-
sion-making. The NSF funds are from its Partnerships for International Re-
search and Education (PIRE) program, which supports international activi-
ties across various disciplines. The program's primary goal is to support
projects in which advances in research and education could not occur with-
out international collaboration. PIRE focuses on investment in Science, En-
gineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) to approach the challenges
of adapting to environmental, social and cultural changes associated with gro-
wth and development of human populations, and attaining a sustainable ener-
gy future, according to the NSF.
KIVA ZIP OFFERS 0% LOANS TO PR BUSINESSES
From News Is My Business:
Entrepreneurs looking to finance their ventures have the opportunity to
borrow from Kiva Zip, a technological platform that connects individuals
and businesses to provide loans at 0 percent interest. “The Foundation
for Puerto Rico, a local organization that works with Kiva.org and promo-
tes the visitor economy as a way to position Puerto Rico as a global des-
tination, has created a seed fund of $ 10,000 to match each dollar loaned
to a local entrepreneur through Kiva Zip,” said Denisse Rodríguez, pro-
gram manager of the Foundation for Puerto Rico. Kiva Zip, program of the
nonprofit Kiva.org, has the purpose of connecting individuals and organi-
zations through the Internet, to grant microloans directly to entreprene-
urs to facilitate and expand their opportunities through the financing of
their business, reduce capital costs and make a positive impact in society.
PREPA AT ODDS WITH INSURERS OVER DEBT
From Bloomberg:
The debt-restructuring agreement Puerto Rico’s main electric utility unvei-
led with great fanfare at the start of the month is turning out to be far from
a done deal. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as Prepa,
still needs to come to terms with about two-thirds of creditors, including
bond-insurance companies, or the agreement falls apart. An accord that
keeps the negotiations out of court expires late Friday. All forbearing cre-
ditors except insurer MBIA Inc. are part of that contract, called a forbear-
ance agreement. “They still have to do quite a bit of work,” said Mikhail
Foux, a municipal-debt strategist at Barclays Plc in New York. “They have
only about a third of the people on board. We’re talking about monolines
and bond funds that effectively bought at par.”
No comments:
Post a Comment