Jesse Ramdeo

Se­nior Re­porter

jesse.ramdeo@cnc3.co.tt

The Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion (NCC) is pro­ject­ed to re­ceive an ad­di­tion­al $23 mil­lion in Gov­ern­ment fund­ing for fis­cal 2027, in­creas­ing its pro­posed sub­ven­tion to $160.2 mil­lion as prepa­ra­tions be­gin for Car­ni­val 2027.

The pro­posed al­lo­ca­tion of $160,192,100 rep­re­sents an in­crease of $23,019,000, or ap­prox­i­mate­ly 16.8 per cent, com­pared with the $137.2 mil­lion ap­proved in both the orig­i­nal and re­vised es­ti­mates for fis­cal 2026.

Trin­ba­go Uni­fied Ca­lyp­so­ni­ans’ Or­gan­i­sa­tion (TU­CO) pres­i­dent Ains­ley King yes­ter­day wel­comed the pro­posed in­crease, ex­press­ing hope that the ad­di­tion­al fund­ing will sup­port a suc­cess­ful Car­ni­val sea­son while ben­e­fit­ing the wider cul­tur­al sec­tor.

“It is cer­tain­ly a pos­i­tive de­vel­op­ment for Car­ni­val and the wider cul­tur­al sec­tor, and I am hope­ful that it will trans­late in­to mean­ing­ful ben­e­fits for the peo­ple and or­gan­i­sa­tions re­spon­si­ble for sus­tain­ing our cul­tur­al tra­di­tions,” King told Guardian Me­dia.

King said the in­creased al­lo­ca­tion was en­cour­ag­ing for Car­ni­val and the or­gan­i­sa­tions, artistes and com­mu­ni­ties that sus­tain the coun­try’s cul­tur­al her­itage.

“As pres­i­dent of TU­CO, I al­so sit on the board of the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion, and I recog­nise that we have a col­lec­tive re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to con­sid­er the needs of all stake­hold­ers,” he said.

King not­ed that de­ci­sions on how the ad­di­tion­al fund­ing should be utilised must be made at the NCC board lev­el, where pri­or­i­ties can be as­sessed in the best in­ter­est of Car­ni­val as a whole.

The NCC’s to­tal ex­pen­di­ture for fis­cal 2027 is pro­ject­ed at $175.5 mil­lion, com­pris­ing the pro­posed Gov­ern­ment sub­ven­tion and an es­ti­mat­ed $15.3 mil­lion in rev­enue. Gov­ern­ment fund­ing would ac­count for rough­ly 91 per cent of the com­mis­sion’s planned ex­pen­di­ture.

Ac­cord­ing to the Draft Es­ti­mates of Rev­enue and Ex­pen­di­ture of Statu­to­ry Boards and Sim­i­lar Bod­ies, the largest por­tion of the NCC’s spend­ing is ear­marked for goods and ser­vices at $101.7 mil­lion, rep­re­sent­ing about 58 per cent of to­tal ex­pen­di­ture.

An­oth­er $65.4 mil­lion is al­lo­cat­ed for cur­rent trans­fers and sub­si­dies, ac­count­ing for ap­prox­i­mate­ly 37 per cent of pro­ject­ed spend­ing. Per­son­nel ex­pen­di­ture is es­ti­mat­ed at $8.3 mil­lion, while $125,000 has been set aside for mi­nor equip­ment pur­chas­es.

King said he hopes the in­creased in­vest­ment will ex­tend be­yond the stag­ing of Car­ni­val 2027.

“Ul­ti­mate­ly, my hope is that this in­creased in­vest­ment will not on­ly help us de­liv­er a suc­cess­ful Car­ni­val 2027, but al­so strength­en the cul­tur­al in­sti­tu­tions, artistes and com­mu­ni­ties that keep our Car­ni­val alive through­out the year,” he said.