Disruption of Carnival averted as Cabinet decides to pay service providers

An events company – Event Production Group (EPG) – which threatened yesterday to pull out all services that could have resulted in a major disruption of the activities for the 60th Anniversary of Carnival has withdrawn the planned boycott.
This, according to a source close to the matter, is as a result of a meeting with the Cabinet which ended “amicably” after the government agreed it would meet the group’s demand to be paid 50 per cent of this year’s bill for services such as use of the stage, generator services, lighting and sound system for the shows at Carnival City.
The four companies which formed EPG to provide the aforementioned services are Stonewall Reloaded International, Raeburn Generator Services, Theatrical Lighting, and Lava International. The source said that Cabinet also agreed to clear the arrears for the debt for the same services offered at Carnival in 2016, but the sums owed were not disclosed.
Additionally, the source said Cabinet has asked Culture and Festivals Minister EP Chet Greene to gather the details about the sums outstanding for the period between 2011 and 2015 since he was reportedly not able to provide such information when Cabinet met yesterday. Minister Greene confirmed to OBSERVER media yesterday that the meeting between Cabinet and the group ended “amicably” but declined to go into further details.
Meanwhile, the source who spoke with this newsroom, said the group chose to issue its threat on Tuesday night and give an ultimatum for yesterday because it had been trying to get its monies for too long and promises were not being kept. The official said that on some occasions, they got monies but then months passed and they heard nothing and received no cash. According to that source, the group however, did not have a formal contract in place in writing, with the Festivals Commission or any other government organisation to provide services this year.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)