DDEC secretary pushes for vertical launch pad at Roosey Roads

Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC by its acronym in Spanish) Secretary Manuel Cidre Miranda asked the incoming administration on Thursday to make it possible to complete the project of launching rockets from the old Roosevelt Roads naval base in Ceiba.

“The aerospace sector and vertical launch are the future,” said Cidre Miranda during the transition hearing. “That while it’s true that the typical takeoff from an airplane is less polluting or is more manageable, what we’re really looking at is SpaceX, and what is happening is there are a lot of [...] companies interested in looking at vertical launch.”

“There is a person in the United States, I can’t publish his name, who has presented a proposal to the directors of the board of Roosevelt Roads to establish an area that doesn’t affect Roosevelt Roads, for a vertical [launch] platform,” he added. “That is in process. I urge this administration that the person who heads that board, and the executive director in charge of Roosevelt Roads, pay special attention to opportunities in that direction,” the DDEC secretary continued. “Obviously, it is an issue that requires a lot of federal permitting, among other things, and it is an issue that is not necessarily a popular issue for reasons that are often due to ignorance, and to be honest, I possibly include myself in that perception. But we should not stop studying the option as a great possibility to develop not only Roosevelt Roads, but to develop the entire eastern region of Puerto Rico,”