President Donald Trump’s administration announced on Tuesday that it will award a $ 3.7 billion grant to Puerto Rico to help rebuild drinking water and wastewater treatment plants, pumping stations and reservoirs damaged by the passage of the Hurricane Maria more than three years ago.
The government has been slow to release the $ 44 billion in funds approved for Puerto Rico after the devastating hurricane.
But the White House assured that once the purification plant funding fund is allocated, the federal government will have committed more than $ 40,000 million to the island’s recovery.
Trump has spent much of his tenure lashing out at Puerto Rican officials, whom he described as corrupt and incapacitated, and has opposed investing federal funds to rebuild the power grid and other infrastructure destroyed after the meteor. hit in September. of 2017.
But last September, he set aside his resentment towards the island and its officials, and his government approved a $ 13,000 million injection that was primarily used to rebuild the electrical network that had been destroyed by the storm and the largest blackout in the United States. the history of the USA.
The announcement was made as Trump tried to win the favor of Puerto Rican voters, especially in the controversial state of Florida.
The line announced Tuesday will cover 90% of the estimated costs for the projects to restore the treatment plants.
Even now, three years after the hurricane, thousands of homes continue to suffer significant damage in Puerto Rico. The island has also been hit by a series of earthquakes and is still in a deep economic crisis, exacerbated during the coronavirus pandemic.