Central wants more Carnival space

Head of the Chaguanas Carnival Committee and former mayor of the central regional corporation, Orlando Nagessar is suggesting the building of a Carnival Stadium in the borough as the festival has outgrown existing facilities, and also because of the cost of having to rent venues every year.

Nagessar said Carnival Tuesday, saw the largest participation in Carnival in ten years.

“With a heavy police presence people felt safe to come out and enjoy the parade of bands while dancing along to the Soca music by the many DJ trucks on the streets of Chaguanas,” Nagessar said.

Nagessar said this year the CDC received $200,000 from the NCC for the hosting of Carnival.

“The biggest issue we face in Chaguanas is the infrastructure for hosting Carnival as more than $100,000 goes in to the rental of tents, chairs, lights and stages each year,” he said. He called for a Carnival stadium to be built in the central borough.

“There are more and more mas producers, designers and other talented youths are emerging every year in central and it is our hope that they stay in Chaguanas for Carnival instead of going to Port of Spain or San Fernando.” the former Chaguanas mayor said.

A Heavy police presence in Couva and Chaguanas accounted for an incident-free staging of two days of Carnival in Couva, San Fernando and Chaguanas. was the sentiment shared by San Fernando mayor Junia Regrello, his Chaguanas counterpart, Vandana Mohit, and the president of the Couva Regional Carnival Committee, Ramchand Rajbal.

Mohit praised the work of the security forces in TT saying this was well coordinated resulting in an incident free three-days of Carnival in Chaguanas. "Kiddies Carnival on Sunday, Monday mas and Tuesday parade of the bands were well attended and there was heavy police presence throughout the borough."

Mohit was happy over the turn-out of patrons as well as the mas bands in Chaguanas.

"We had excellent people-participation and improved crowds for every event hosted by the Chaguanas Carnival Committee for Carnival 2020,” Mohit said. What was portrayed, she said is a great sign that culture is alive and well in the central borough. She praised the workers of the Chaguanas Borough Corporation (CDC) for ensuring that the streets were cleaned after each Carnival activity.

Regrello also praised the TTPS and the Municipal Police for a great job during the week-long Carnival events in San Fernando. The mayor expressed disappointment in the number of Carnival bands and masqueraders on the streets of San Fernando.

“I know we have had many challenges with the economy and this would have affected the job sector, but I know there are several new government initiatives coming on stream and with this I am hoping to see better participation in Carnival in the coming years,” Regrello said.

The National Carnival Committee (NCC), he said released funds but he is yet to collect for the City of San Fernando. “I cannot say what is the allocation and I am hoping that we can get what is being owed to past winners in San Fernando,” Regrello said. The results from the parade of bands will be released on Thursday he added. Rajbal said the Couva Carnival Committee is expected to get approximately $300,000 from the NCC.

“The CRCC received the first tranche of $190,000 which will go towards paying prize monies for winners in Couva,” he said In 2019, Rajbal said the CRCC got a total of $160,000. “Many of the bands opted out of Carnival because of the small amount they received as prize money in 2019,” he said. However, he said a couple of the Chaguanas-based bands also made an appearance in Couva this year.

The ban on glass bottles by the Police Commissioner, Gary Griffith, Rajbal said, was a good move in assuring a safer Carnival especially J’ouvert in Couva.