P.R. Laws tit. 32, § 2904
In addition to the purposes specified in § 2903 of this title, private property may be taken or destroyed to carry out and develop any general plan of economic reconstruction for the general benefit of the Puerto Rican community, implanted by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or by the Government of the United States of America, but through the Government of Puerto Rico, provided said plan is previously approved by the Legislature of Puerto Rico, and especially for the redistribution or division of lands concentrated in large estates, or for the establishment of public centrals or factories for the manufacture of sugar or for any industry or activity. For the said purposes, condemnation proceedings may be instituted against lands or their accessories, such as buildings, machinery, factories, electric power plants, wharves, bulkheads, dikes, quays, or any other similar structure.
In addition to the purposes set forth in § 2903 of this title and in the first paragraph of this section, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or the Commonwealth Government, on its own initiative, or on request, or through any agency or instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, may institute condemnation proceedings against lands and their accessories, and the expropriation against the use, usufruct, lease and any right or interest in the ownership of lands and their accessories, including any other real or personal property necessary or convenient for the use or utilization of said lands, to carry out and develop any plan for the planting of food products in case of any public necessity or emergency caused by war, interruption of the maritime transportation service, agricultural lockouts, hurricanes, earthquakes, plague, or any other calamity which may reduce the sources of supplies of Puerto Rico.
The condemnation of real and personal property and the expropriation of the use, usufruct, lease, and any right or interest in the ownership of real or personal property may also be instituted for the use of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or for any purpose of public utility, according to such terms and in such manner as specified in §§ 2901-2913 of this title.
For the purposes of this section, all works and projects to be carried out under any general plan of economic reconstruction for Puerto Rico, or any plan for the planting of food products in cases of public necessity or emergency, and especially for the purposes enumerated in the foregoing paragraphs, are declared of public utility, and likewise, all such real and personal properties and their accessories, and the use, usufruct, lease, right, or interest in the ownership of said real and personal property above enumerated, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes stated, are hereby also declared of public utility prescribed in § 2902 of this title.
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Government of the United States of America, through the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any board, commission, authority, council, or organization created by the Legislature of Puerto Rico, as agency or instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, through their official agents or employees, shall be entitled, after notice is given to the owner or to his representative, to enter any land, building, plant, or factory for the purpose of examining and studying the conditions of said properties and their adaptability and convenience for the above-mentioned purposes.
Condemnation proceedings may be instituted by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or by the Government of the United States, through the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or by any board, commission, authority, council, or organization created by the Legislature of Puerto Rico as an agency or instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to carry out the above-mentioned purposes.
History —Mar. 12, 1903, p. 50, added as § 3(a) on Aug. 6, 1935, No. 44, p. 508; Nov. 30, 1942, No. 19, p. 82, § 2.