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EBRD to finance refurbishment of Daugava Hotel in Riga
The Daugava Hotel in Riga, Latvia, will be refurbished following the signing today of a USD 12 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in conjunction with a USD 5 million loan from Finnish Export Credit Ltd. The refurbishment of this hotel will allow it to become an international four star standard hotel and will help to mitigate the shortage of first class hotel space in Riga.
Mario Salsano, Director of Property and Tourism at the EBRD said: "This is the first hotel project the Bank is financing in the Baltics and it will foster an important step in the development of the business and tourist industry in Latvia. This project will allow Latvia to respond to the business community's expanding needs in the Baltics and to open its economy to foreign investment."
Built in the early 1970's, the Daugava Hotel undertook a major expansion programme which was never completed. The hotel, due to open in early summer 1995, will be rebuilt by Polar-BEK Daugava Ltd - a Latvian joint venture comprising Polar-BEK International, a US-Finnish development company, Radisson Hotels International as operator, and Riga City Enterprise. It will provide 357 rooms (including suites), as well as long-term serviced apartments, restaurants, a business centre, and conference and health facilities. It will be renamed The Radisson Daugava Hotel.
The project will also support the privatisation process in Latvia by enabling the City of Riga to convert its ownership of the partially renovated hotel to an equity investment in a limited-liability company - Polar-BEK Daugava Ltd, and accelerate the process of technology transfer in the building and hotel sectors.
The total cost of the project is USD 42.8 million.
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