PRASA Seeks Water P3s

The Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnerships Authority last week received responses from 13 consortiums looking to upgrade the commonwealth’s water and sewer infrastructure.

The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority is seeking to reduce water leakage and faulty metering through P3 agreements. Selected companies or consortiums would finance and execute the improvements in exchange for a percentage of anticipated new revenue.

The 13 participants that submitted statements of qualifications include outfits from the U.S. — including Puerto Rico — Spain, Columbia, Israel, and Greece. The P3 authority will now begin a request for proposals process and expects to pick winning bidders in November.

Lost water is an issue for the authority, as roughly 63% of its water production does not generate revenue. PRASA is the island’s sole water and sewer provider, serving four million residents and five million visitors annually.

The agency has nearly $2 billion of outstanding debt. Fitch Ratings Aug. 3 downgraded $1.3 billion of its senior revenue bonds to BBB from BBB-pluse.

Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s rate the senior bonds Baa1 and BBB-minus, respectively.

“This P3 project will allow us to establish modern, reliable, and efficient water automated reading system that will reduce the level of non-revenue water that has come about due to reasons such as losses, imprecise metering, water theft, and unauthorized water consumption, among others,” PRASA executive director Jose Ortiz said in a statement.

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