Carnival hours cut again

Hurricane Maria is continuing to negatively affect Dominica's carnival.

Through the police force, Government has announced yesterday a further reduction in the number of hours for the street jump-up and band parade.

Inspector Richmond Valentine said the hours of carnival has been reduced to 6.00 am to 6.00pm on Monday and on Tuesday from 8.00am to 6.00pm.

At a press launch last month, at Government Headquarters on Kennedy Avenue, the DFC said the hours of the Monday and Tuesday street-jump up were trimmed by four hours each day, from the usual 4am to 10pm to 4am to 6pm.

"Obviously the entire country does not have electricity as we would like it to be," Senator Robert Tonge, the Tourism Minister said then. "We have to ensure that our people and our visitors are as safe as possible. So the intention is to ensure that the carnival ends at an early time to give persons time to get home safe".

In addition to the reduced hours for the street revelry, the budget was also cut by 64 percent, from EC$720,000 last year to EC$263,000 in 2018, as the country recovers from the devastation caused by the category five Hurricane Maria on 18 September 2017.

Carnival, the annual pre-Lenten festival, will be held on 12 and 13th February 2018.