I recently presented the progress of FEMA-funded reconstruction projects—mainly for the permanent recovery from Hurricane María—before the General Contractors Association. I had previously done the same for the Certified Public Accountants Society, the Cooperative Circuit, and the College of Engineers and Surveyors, among other organizations. To these distinguished audiences, I emphasized that we already have billions of dollars approved by FEMA for the reconstruction of roads and bridges, water control facilities, public buildings, hospitals, schools, universities, the electrical system, as well as the water and sewer systems, piers, recreational and sports facilities, natural resource areas, and to mitigate future damage and climate change.

To be more precise, over $21 billion and 6,600 projects under the Public Assistance program for permanent works, and nearly $1.9 billion under the Hazard Mitigation program, have already been approved. Much more remains to be approved, but we undoubtedly already have this historic amount of funding available.

For this reason, I also directly addressed the urgent need to move from plans on paper to tangible results: we need significant and impactful activity in the construction sector so these thousands of projects can finally benefit our communities and help us rebuild our infrastructure to make it more resilient and competitive. This is not only one of Governor Pierluisi’s highest priorities, but also my personal commitment to continue contributing to the economic development of our island. And now, as we mark the fourth anniversary of Hurricane María—the most devastating natural disaster in our modern history—the question is: what exactly are we doing to achieve this goal?

Before answering, I think it is important to highlight the progress already made in various areas of reconstruction. For example, COR3 has verified that at least 328 projects have been completed across the island. Some have impacted roads and bridges, recreational facilities, piers, regional airports, and certain public buildings.

In addition, we have projects already under construction, including the reconstruction of the Vieques airport terminal, construction of the new Central Analysis Laboratory of the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (AAA) in Caguas, a new soccer park in Aibonito, landslide correction projects in Canóvanas and Yauco, and construction of a new community center in Barranquitas.

Equally important, there are many road and bridge construction projects in municipalities like Jayuya, Coamo, and Villalba, and sports facility projects such as the Herminio Cintrón Stadium and sports complex in Villalba, the Roberto Clemente Stadium and complex in Carolina, and the Francisco Negrón Stadium in Las Piedras. Other municipalities, such as Bayamón, Juana Díaz, Caguas, and Ponce, have also made significant progress in reconstruction projects.

Still, much more remains to be done. One of the strategies we’re working on at COR3 is managing projects through specific programs and action plans. In this effort, COR3 identified over 120 projects with estimated costs above $5 million. The total value of these projects is about $1.3 billion. We also identified around 800 projects estimated between $1 million and $5 million, totaling about $1.7 billion. In other words, 920 out of the 6,600 already approved projects account for 75% of FEMA's obligated funds to date. This analysis excludes projects from PREPA, AAA, and the Department of Education, which are already being managed under other strategies.

Working closely with our subrecipients, we already have considerable information about which of these projects are in the request-for-proposals stage for professional services, in engineering and architecture design, bidding, or construction. We can highlight some examples: the Department of Transportation and Public Works already has active RFPs for design firms and construction bids for many of its projects. Similarly, the Department of Recreation and Sports and the Department of Agriculture, to name a few agencies, already have ongoing construction bids. At the municipal level, projects such as the Vieques health facility (from the municipality) and Maunabo (from the Department of Health) are advancing in their conceptual design stages.

Then there are the PREPA, AAA, and public school projects. For PREPA, there are around 65 transmission and distribution projects in the engineering and design phase, already approved by the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau, totaling about $2.8 billion in investment. The current schedule projects bidding and construction to begin in 2022. For AAA, there are about 30 projects totaling over $500 million also in the engineering and architecture phase. These should be entering the bidding phase and starting construction in 2022. Regarding schools, COR3 is working with the Department of Education to advance the first 150–200 school repair projects to the bidding stage and begin construction in early 2022.

As we can see, if work plans continue as scheduled, 2022 will be the year when we will see a significant increase in reconstruction projects from the María disaster funded by FEMA. I will not be satisfied until we fulfill this crucial mission for the social and economic development of our island.