Let me start by stating a few things. I am not a civil engineer. I’ve only passed through US Customs in San Juan on my way back to DFW 18 years ago. And I’ve never been to the USVI. Oh, and I’m a dreamer. Not the immigrant dreamer, the Robert Kennedy kind.
Some men see things as they are and ask why. I see things as they could be and ask; Why not?
And another to go along with the above:
Just because we cannot see clearly the end of the road, that is no reason for not setting out on the essential journey.
Due to Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands are devastated beyond what one usually sees from just a single weather event. If the one, two punch of the hurricanes weren’t enough the size was going to do it. For all intents and purposes, the recovery hasn’t really started. However the purpose of this post isn’t to discuss the lack of response from the current administration. This post I hope can start a discussion about what come next. I’ll concentrate on Puerto Rico, but whatever we discuss for one could be utilized for the other.
Beyond what mother nature brought to bare on Puerto Rico part of the reason for the lose of power, communication, water, roads and bridges etc. was the age of the infrastructure. Stringing lines on wooden post is 19th century technology. It’s something we did to run the telegraph across a continent 160 or so years ago. As to the roads and bridges, I’m sure there are a mixture of ages and technologies used. The same goes for water and sewer. And the list goes on.
We have an opportunity here. Puerto Rico presents us with and situation that for all practical purposes we have a blank slate. To paraphrase a line from The Six Million Dollar Man;
We have the technology. We can make it better than it was before. We can do this.
I don’t expect anything from this administration, so let’s set that aside from the start. This would have to be a project put together by Puerto Rico and forward thinking companies.
My proposal is to not just fix Puerto Rico back to the way it was before the hurricanes. No more mixture of 18th, 19th and 20th centuries technologies that would barely be underway before the next hurricane season starts and tears them all down again.Let’s use 21st century technologies.
Let’s use the newest advanced technology to not repair, but replace. To improve on what had been to what it can and should be. Puerto Rico is small enough but large enough to prove we have a better way.
Combinations of renewable energies. No more linear delivery of services. Modules of interconnected areas. Overlapping of different services so that if one goes out, all are not lost. Redundant delivery.
And here’s a really crazy one, lay the foundation and infrastructure for an all-electric transportation system. No more gas or diesel engines on the island. This one may take a little longer, but should be doable. The geographic size is small enough and the population is large enough. Between Google, Uber, Tesla and the EVs already available, it can be done. If there’s vision and pressure.
And talk about jobs? Holy cow! The opportunities should be boundless.
Like I said, I’m not a civil engineer, I’m just a dreamer.
One more thing, I wouldn’t confine/restrict/limit it to just US based companies. But whoever has the best provable technology. Nor would I use tax breaks. Make it technology based, not tax driven.