Puerto Rico News Digest For June 29, 2015

GOVERNOR: PR DEBT 'NOT PAYABLE'

Extreme Measures Considered As PR Hurtles Towards Default

Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla told The New York Times in an 
interview published over the weekend that Puerto Rico's $73 billion in public debt
is "not payable". The Governor's admission kicked the financial rumor mill into high
gear, at the same time as a grim report on the island's finances by former IMF econo-
mist Anne Krueger was released to the public. Padilla's administration has been in talks
with the US Treasury Department as well as with creditors and banks, in a desperate
attempt to find alternatives to stem the crisis. Padilla  called the island's mayors and
lawmakers to a meeting this afternoon, which the Governor himself will, curiously,
not attend. Several mayors and lawmakers have already warned the Governor not to
present unilateral solutions at the meeting.

The Krueger Report (available to read here) makes several recommendations for
addressing the fiscal emergency. Among them: calls for restructuring the debt, broad
structural reforms, restoring credibility and economic competitiveness, and a fiscal
oversight board. Krueger is also recommending tax increases, massive government
budget cuts and renegotiating the debt. The report also indicates that Puerto Rico's
budget deficit is very likely much larger than the previously reported $3.65 billion.
Prices for stocks of Puerto Rican banks, as well as those of Puerto Rico municipal
bonds, were down sharply this morning as the markets attempt to process this mor-
ning's news.

ESCAPED MONKEYS YET TO BE FOUND

From Caribbean Business:

Authorities say 21 monkeys were set free after someone broke a lock on their en-
closures at a primate research facility. Police say the rhesus macaques were  freed
early Sunday from Toa Baja's Caribbean Primate Research Center on PR-867. Ele-
ven of the freed monkeys were found in the premises and 10 have yet to be found,
although the center's director, Dr. Melween Martínez, believes they will return to
their coral by tomorrow. There have been no arrests.

PR TO HOST ICANN CONFERENCE IN 2016

From News Is My Business:

he Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, known as ICANN,
will host its third public meeting of 2016 in Puerto Rico, from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4,
the organization announced late last week. “Based on the proposals and analysis,
ICANN has identified San Juan, Puerto Rico as the location for ICANN 57,” the
nonprofit organization confirmed. ICANN was formed in 1998 to oversee the
Internet’s naming system. The nonprofit has participants from all over the world
dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes
competition and develops policy on the Internet’s unique identifiers.

RATIONING ZONE MAPS FOR CAGUAS, LUQUILLO

Below is an interactive mapS indicating areas around Caguas that are subject
to water rationing, as well as another map showing areas affected areas in Río
Grande, Loíza and Luquillo. Below the maps you can see the water reservoir le-
vels for today.

List of Water Oases In Carraizo Rationing Zones

Water Reservoir Levels for 6/11/15 (AAA)

Oases are locations where the island's water provider, AAA, will distribute
potable water from tanker trucks from 9:00AM  to 8:00PM daily. Bring
containers for water. The listing can be found in Spanish here. Water ra-
tioning for areas served by the Carraizo reservoir is currently on a 24-hours
-with-water-on / 48-hours-water-off cycle. Yesterday and today, Zone A has
no running water. A map of the zones can be found here.


Zone A

Ave. Campo Rico in front of José M. Lázaro School, 246th Street
Ave. Fragoso in front of Plaza Carolina
Ave. Monserrate corner of Roberto Clemente in front of Monserrate Shopping Center
Ave. Park Gardens in front of Res. Jardines del Paraíso
Ave. Pontezuela corner of Calle 1 Jardines de Country Club
Ave. Sagrado Corazón int. Eduardo Conde Zona
Ave. San Claudio in front of Chalets de Cupey
Barriada Venezuela in front of Empresas Díaz
Buen Consejo Río Piedras
516th Street in front of Municipal Police HQ, Villa Carolina
Cambridge Park Río Piedras
Laguna Gardens Shopping Center
Venus Gardens Shopping Center
Parcelas 400 1st Street in front of ballpark
Piñones Pascuala
PR #176 int #199 in front of Col. Barbara Ann Rossler
PR #185 corner of 953 Gomera Joe
PR #843 K. 3.5 in front of Urb. Villas de Carraízo
PR #846 in front of Urb. Interamericana
PR #846 in front of Urb. Lomas de Trujillo Alto
PR #858 Cacao Ballpark
Urb. Villa Carolina in front of Lulo Mendoza Court


Zone B 

Ave Gándara, corner of Ponce de León
Ave. Eduardo Conde, corner of Ave San Jorge Santurce
Ave. Monte Carlo in front of Cond. Portal de La Reina
Ave. Sagrado Corazón Int. Eduardo Conde
Calle Barbé Urb. Monte Flores (rolling)
Calle Castelar Comunidad El Chícharo (rolling)
Calle Eduardo Conde final (fixed)
Calle Julio Andino Esq. Ana Otero Urb. Villa Prades Río Piedras
Centro Comercial 65th Infantería in front Cancha Mickey Mouse
Centro Comercial Los Colobos PR #3
Centro Comercial Metropolis PR #860
Centro de Manejo de Emergencia PR #853 int #852, Bo. Barrazas
Loíza Valley in front of Shell Gas Station
Parcelas Ramón T. Colón PR #852 Km 4.0
Piñones Pascuala
Plaza del Bicentenario
PR #185 Int #957 Campo Rico in front of ballpark
PR #874 in front Parque Pelota La Central
PR #962 in front River Valley
Residencial Bartolomé de Las Casas
Residencial Villa Kennedy

Puerto Rico News Digest For May 18, 2015

CARRAIZO RESERVOIR LEVEL SLIGHTLY UP

After a rainy weekend, the Carraízo reservoir in Trujillo Alto showed
some improvement in its water levels this morning. The reservoir's level
had increased by 64 centimeters Monday morning, with an overall level
of 37.01 meters. This brings Carraízo close to the level it displayed little
over a week ago. Since last Wednesday, the 160,000 water customers
that receive water from Carraízo have been under a 24 hour water ratio-
ning plan. The President of the island's public water company (AAA),
Alberto Lázaro, stated that the higher water level "buys us about six to
eight days", in reference to the possibility of increasing the water ratio-
ning periods to 48 instead of 24 hours.

FINES FOR HIRING UNLICENSED HVAC TECHS

From Caribbean Business:

In an effort to protect consumers from being victims of fraudulent ser-
vices when installing an air-conditioning or refrigeration unit for either
commercial or personal use, a communications campaign wants to deli-
ver an important consumer alert. Any person who contracts the services
of an unlicensed air-conditioning and refrigeration technician to install
refrigeration equipment both for personal or commercial uses will be
fined up to $500. “Many people don’t know that this is an established
law,” informs Antonio Figueroa Rey, president of Colegio de Técnicos
de Refrigeración y Aire Acondicionado de Puerto Rico (CTRAPR), or
Association of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technicians.

PREPA CREDITORS PUSH FOR DEAL

From The San Juan Daily Star:

Another group of creditors of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Autho-
rity (PREPA) is pursuing negotiations to shore up the cash-strapped
public corporation, seeking to avoid putting a receiver in charge of
a debt restructuring, the co-founder of a hedge fund that owns some
of the utility’s debt told Bloomberg. But PREPA insists on its own
debt restructuring plan, to be delivered on June 1. “Rather than go
that route, we and other bondholders have put forward a proposal,”
Tom Wagner, the cofounding partner of New York-based hedge-fund
firm Knighthead Capital Management, said in an interview on Bloom-
berg Television. “We are focused on trying to find a capital markets
solution to resolve the problem.”

PR TO LAUNCH INVESTMENT SUMMIT

From Fox News Latino:

Puerto Rico this coming week will try to sell itself to Latin American
and Spanish investors as one of the hemisphere's best locations in which
 to invest, an effort to attract foreign capital to help it pull out of the re-
cession in which it has been mired for almost a decade. To accomplish
that, the island's government has organized the third so-called Puerto
Rico Investment Summit, which on this occasion will focus for two days
on potential investors from Latin America, Spain and the U.S. Hispanic
community. According to figures provided by the Puerto Rican govern-
ment, the Condado Vanderbilt Hotel on Monday will host some 150
potential investors for the summit.

GDB'S LIQUIDITY DOWN TO $1.02B

From News Is My Business:

The Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico released its most
recent liquidity statement late last week, showing a balance of $1.02
billion net as of April 30, representing a drop from the $1.11 billion the
agency reported for the prior month.

Map of Carraízo Water Rationing Zones

The map below can be found on AAA's website. The areas shaded in green
and blue fall under the water rationing plan which starts tomorrow. Zone A
is shaded in green, while Zone B is shaded in blue. Zone A will be the first
to have its water cut off for 24 hours every other day, starting Wednesday.

The map is interactive. You can move around or zoom in for more detail.

Puerto Rico News Digest For May 11, 2015

WATER RATIONING PLAN COMING TODAY

As reported this morning by El Nuevo Dia, Puerto Rico's publicly-owned
water company, AAA (Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados) will
announce its water rationing plan today at noon. It is expected to affect
200,000 water customers that are supplied by the Carraízo reservoir in
Trujillo Alto. This information was confirmed by AAA's press spokes-
person, Norma Muñoz. Carraízo's level was at 36.82 meters today, only
6.82 meters from the level at which it would have to shut down opera-
tions. Puerto Rico has  been going through a months-long drought with
no sign of serious rain for the immediate future, with an average rain de-
ficit across the island of 12 inches. Besides Carraízo, other reservoirs are
under observation for falling levels.

12:30 PM Update: Rationing will start this Wednesday. Areas affected
will be split into Zone A and Zone B. Each zone will have water service
cut off for 24 hours, every other day. The first one to be affected will be
Zone A (San Juan, Trujillo Alto, Carolina, Canóvanas & Gurabo), which
will have no running water on Wednesday. For more information, AAA is
referring customers to its webpage. Zone map is below.

PUBLIC WORKER'S HOURS CUT BY 10%

From The San Juan Daily Star:

The Puerto Rico government plans to cut around 15 hours from the
monthly payroll of public employees who are not police officers,
teachers or correctional officers to save $50 million. The infor-
mation was provided Thursday by Luis Cruz Batista, director of
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in a radio interview
in which he spoke about the proposed $1.5 billion in budget cuts
for the next fiscal year as the government seeks to balance the
fi scal 2016 budget with expected revenues of $8.6 billion. “We
are excluding, of course, policemen, teachers and corrections
officers,” Cruz Batista said. “They will work 15 hours less per
month. It is 10 percent of the schedule.”

SAN JUAN HOSTS INT'L TOURISM EXPO

From Caribbean Business:

Expo de Turismo Internacional (ETI), the first international tourism
 expo in the Caribbean, will be held in San Juan May 13-16. “ETI-
Puerto Rico is designed to showcase the beauty, sports, nature, ad-
venture and gastronomy experiences available throughout the Cari-
bbean, bringing together members of the tourism industry from across
the globe,” an event release reads. ETI-Puerto Rico will be held at the
Puerto Rico Convention Center.

YOGURT ROBOT DEBUTS IN CAYEY

From News Is My Business:

Puerto Rican firm Robofusion PR on Wednesday unveiled what is po-
ssibly the island’s first robot-operated frozen yogurt machine, up and
running at the Econo grocery store in Cayey. The brightly colored ro-
bot dispenses Reis & Irvy’s frozen yogurt and comes in three models:
“The Cube,” “The Kiosk,” or “The Factory.” Depending on the model,
the machines require 12, 24 or 48 square-feet of space, and accept cash
or cards, he said. Owners can monitor sales real-time and through the
Internet, he said.

Puerto Rico News Digest For May 8, 2015

WATER RATIONING AROUND THE CORNER

From Caribbean Business:

Alberto Lázaro, the Puerto Rico Aqueduct & Sewer Authority (Prasa) executive
director, forewarned that the utility may soon begin rationing water service due
to the drought affecting Carraízo dam in Trujillo Alto. "It's worrisome. We are
already taking all the necessary measures to reduce water pressure, transferring
water from the Superaqueduct and other systems to the Carraízo system," he
said, adding the situation "is very critical." He explained that "Carraízo was at
less than 27.5 meters.

FARM LEADER ASSAILS GOV'T OVER CUTS

From The San Juan Daily Star:

Puerto Rico Farmers Association President Héctor Cordero on Wednesday blas-
ted the central government for announcing a massive  budget cut of $77 million
to the Agriculture Department “when  local farmers have been loyal citizens
who have stood by the  government in the good and the bad times.” “No far-
mer has gotten on an airplane and left the island in search of better opportuni-
ties,” Cordero said in a radio interview, his voice rising. “No, we don’t fly
off and neverlook back. We have stayed here and fought the battle.” Cordero
said the $77 million the governmenthas proposed as possibly being slashed
from the Agriculture Department is much less than the $85 million it costs to
operate the Metropolitan Bus Authority (AMA by its Spanish acronym) which
in his opinion only serves “the white people from the metropolitan area.”

PR RANKS 55TH IN TOURISM FRIENDLINESS

From News Is My Business:

Puerto Rico positioned itself 55th out of 141 of the globe’s most tourist-

friendly countries listed in the World Economic Forum’s global Travel & 

Tourism Competitiveness Index released Wednesday. Although the island sli-

pped three notches since the release of the last report in 2013, the change 

was attributed to a change in methodology applied to this year’s rankings. 

For the first time, the WEF index measured a country’s branding and digital 

presence on a global level. Puerto Rico placed on the high end of those two 

elements, taking the 20th and 21st spots, respectively. The report also 

placed Puerto Rico in a favorable position in terms of the government’s pri-

ority of the tourism sector (16 out of 141), representing a two-point im-

provement over 2013’s results.

CITI SELLS $146 MILLION PREPA LOAN 

From Reuters:

Citibank has sold a $146 million loan it had with the Puerto Rico 

Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to a distressed debt investment firm, 

two sources said on Thursday, in a sign of the growing uncertainty over 

the utility's finances.PREPA's bank lenders and other bondholders are 

disputing who has priority in loan repayments, said one of the sources, 

who are familiar with the utility's ongoing, private debt restructuring 

talks and requested anonymity. Citi sold its loan to Solus Alternative 

Asset Management, the sources said. Solus replaced Citi in an April 30 

forbearance agreement with PREPA's lenders posted on the website of 

Puerto Rico's Government Development Bank (GDB).