The secretary of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA), Waldemar Quiles, confirmed that the Parque de las Cavernas del Río Camuy will reopen before December, after being closed since Hurricane María. In an interview on the program Normando en la Mañana on NotiUno 630, Quiles said the park is ready and only some administrative details remain.
He said a reopening attempt in 2023 failed, and that park revenue does not go only to the facility but helps cover other agency responsibilities, such as the flood-control program, which he described as costly and neglected: miles of flood-control dikes and four dams, two in Añasco and two in Ponce. Responding to mayors who say they would run the park better, Quiles defended the DRNA’s record, saying the agency has worked the park for more than 40 years and that private enterprise will be brought in as a hybrid model.
On reports of sewage flowing through the stormwater system at Condado beaches, Quiles said an EPA-ordered study found illegal connections made over decades because the system is very old. He said the modernization project covering stops 18 and 22 and the Baldorioty area costs about $330 million, funded by FEMA and Puerto Rico’s Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resiliency (COR3), which pays out the federal disaster recovery money, and is in the design-validation phase before going out to bid.
He said the first stone would be placed before the current four-year term ends. He also confirmed the reopening of the DRNA barracks in Maricao, in the Monte del Estado area, after nine years closed. Asked about a House bill approved the day before to transfer the park to the Department of Economic Development and Commerce, Quiles declined to confront it, said public policy has not changed, and ruled out lobbying against it in the Senate.