‘Three more shopping malls and 118,400 square meters of storehouses are to be put up in Yekaterinburg in the second half of 2008. In addition, ten business centers and seven hotels should be introduced. This is a lot more construction to do in comparison with the first six months of the year,’ says Deputy Mayor of Yekaterinburg Viktor Konteev.

‘I don’t think all the projects will be ready by the end of 2009, that is, in time for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. Some of them are already missing their deadlines, and if the developers don’t manage to catch up, the construction will have to be stopped for the summit time,’ he notes.