The groundbreaking ceremony for the Coca-Cola sponsored Aquatic Centre at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) took place on Friday, 30 May, 2014. Ahmet Bozer, President Coca-Cola International, the chief guest at the event, along with other members of the Coca-Cola team, were welcomed at LUMS by Dr. Sohail Naqvi, Vice Chancellor, LUMS, and Abdul Razak Dawood, Rector, LUMS.
A memorandum of understanding was signed after which the groundbreaking took place at the site where the international standard indoor swimming pool will be built. The Coca Cola Aquatic Centre will be built in line with FINA specifications and will measure 25 metres. The facility will be indoor, operational for all seasons and certified for national and international competitions. Presently, there is no FINA approved 25 metre swimming pool operational at any university in Pakistan. With the addition of the Aquatic Centre, LUMS will be able to develop teams in swimming, water polo and other aquatic sports.
LUMS Vice Chancellor, Dr. Naqvi thanking the sponsors said, "The Coca-Cola Aquatic Centre fulfills a long standing desire of LUMS students, faculty and staff to have a swimming pool on campus. We are deeply indebted to Coca-Cola management for their generosity which greatly contributes to the development of a healthy LUMS community.”
Rizwan Ullah Khan, General Manager, The Coca-Cola Export Corporation, Pakistan & Afghanistan, said, "Coca-Cola strongly believes in active healthy living and inculcating balance into our consumers lives. The Coca-Cola Aquatic Centre embodies active healthy living amongst the LUMS student community by providing them with state-of-the-art swimming facilities."
Coca-Cola has previously supported LUMS in a variety of ways which have included an endowment fund for the National Outreach Programme for sponsoring financially disadvantaged students and a Coke Learning Centre which is a partnership between the LUMS Rausing Executive Development Centre for a series of programmes dedicated to building the leadership and business acumen of executives. The Coca-Cola Empower Lecture Series was also an initiative that took place at LUMS which aimed at empowering the youth of Pakistan through a series of lectures by inspiring speakers.
