International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, will provide 16 million dollars to the Tourism Promotion Services of Pakistan (TPSP), the parent company of Serena Hotel. To this effect, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the IFC and Serena Hotel here on Thursday.
The investment will be used for expanding the Islamabad Serena Hotel and construction of the adjacent office complex. Tourism Promotion Services of Pakistan is one of the leading companies operating in Pakistan which is sponsored by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), which owns and operates a network of six major hotels in Pakistan.
Lars Thunell, head of IFC, signed this agreement during his first visit to Pakistan since joining IFC in January 2006. The visit highlights IFC's continuing commitment to its well-established partnership with Pakistan as well as to private sector development, poverty reduction and employment generation.
On the occasion, Aziz Bolani, TPSP's Chief Executive Officer said that this is the second time AKFED-IFC investment in which the institutions have co-operated to develop a sustainable tourism industry in the region. The first was in the development of the Kabul Serena Hotel in 2004. He also mentioned that IFC's investment with TPSP will represent a major step forward in opening up TPSP's equity base to minority shareholders.