‘The advertisement by Noviy Grad that offers flats at prices that are lower than the market ones as part of the special holiday project is most likely untrue. The thing is, this developer is well-known for its unfair practices on the regional real estate market,’ the spokesperson for Unscrupulous Developers Opposition Fund Ltd. said to UrBC representative. ‘The builder is once again employing some dubious ways of influencing the potential co-investors through low prices. It is obvious that the company is trying to deceive its clients,’ the spokesperson said.

‘The dollar rate determined by the Bank of Russia on December 20, 2006 has undergone almost no changes compared to the day before and came to 26.38 RUR per one dollar. The euro rate has remained almost the same, too, and amounted to 34.57 RUR per one euro,’ says Sergey Vetyshev of SKB-Bank. ‘Dollar has grown by .2 RUR over the last ten days due to the euro becoming weaker on the global markets. The dollar was actually supported by the macroeconomic statistics: the USA consumer price index remained the same in November as in October. The industrial production volumes, however, went up .2%,’ Mr

Standard & Poor's raised the long-term regional credit ratings from BB- to BB on December 16, 2006. According to the company’s expert Irina Pilman, this upgrading reflects the stable income growth over the last three years as well as the attempts of the regional authorities to keep their debts at the low level. The plain duty will come to .1% of the current profits, the full debt will come to 2% at the end of 2006. The rating is also determined by the low flexibility and predictability of the region’s budget, pressure caused by increased social and infrastructure expenses, and the

The workers of Yestyuninskaya mine of Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise extracted the 30-millionth ton of ore on December 19, 2006. The event was celebrated in the course of a meeting devoted to giving thanks and praise to the best miners. Yestyuninskaya mine is the company’s most recent development. It is going to celebrate its 30th anniversary on December 29, 2006. Over 40 miners will be given honorary certificates and letters of thanks. Yestyuninskaya is the mine with the greatest potential at the moment, developing three floors and getting ready to launch the second line

Fire broke out at Reftinskaya power station at 4.55 AM today. Eleven fire-engines from Sukhoi Log, Zarechniy, Asbest, and Beloyarskiy district left for the site at once and brought the fire under control at 6.51 AM. Two power-generating units had to be unplugged, even though the heat and electricity supply was not interrupted. The firefighters are pouring on additional water now; no casualties have been reported. The causes of the fire and the damage done by it are currently looked into, reports Novosti Information and Advertising Agency.

Ural Civil Aviation Plant is through with ‘author watch’ examination carried out by the representatives of Saint Petersburg-based Klimov Plant. ‘We feel satisfied with the performance of this committee. Unlike the other committees in the past when the experts from Klimov Plant took the liberty of making conclusions about our production process, this one fully complied with the norms defined by the state standards. This might be due to the presence of the empowered experts from Rostechnadzor, the regional authority, that supervised the examination procedure,’ says Assistant to the Director of

IES Multiutilities Ltd. and Sverdlovsk Communal Networks informed the council of Krasnoturinsk that they were not going to sign the agreement allowing them to rent the local engineering structures or public water and heat supply systems, reports the spokesperson for IES Multiutilities. IES Multiutilities Ltd. applied for the tenant right concerning the electricity networks, the engineering structures, and public water and heat supply systems; the town council, however, decided to give this right to another company. IES Multiutilities Ltd., in its turn, tries to stick to multi-faceted and

‘Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region found Koltsovo airport guilty of violating the antimonopoly legislation on December 19, 2006. It ordered the airport to retain the tradition timetable for Ural Airline flights to Moscow,’ says the press officer for the carrier. ‘The decision made by the Federal Antimonopoly Service is both an adequate and a legal step aimed at preventing the attempts of Koltsovo airport management to redistribute slots using their monopoly. The interference of this authority guarantees that passengers can enjoy their right to choose, which was not the case

Ural Turbine Plant (part of Renova Group) has recently launched a new line of cutting machines capable of cutting 3 millimeter- to 20 centimeter-thick steel sheets. These machines will provide for both faster billet production and doubling the production of metalwork needed for the company’s strategic development projects. These cutting machines can deal with up to 35 millimeters of sheet per minute; they do not require specific maintenance and are easy to install and run; the cutting process is fully automated, so there is no human factor involved that could affect the quality of cutting.

‘Some dishonest insurance companies conspire with the car crash experts to reduce the compensation payment to the car owner following the accident. As a result, the clients suffer, as they do not receive enough money to do good quality repairs. We do not deal with such companies,’ the Director of Ural Expert and Assessment Center Alexander Nikiforov said to UrBC representative.

Alexei Kushnarev, the Managing Director of Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group) was awarded Cherepanov Prize 2006. Mr Kushnarev was awarded for his outstandingly creative performance in the field of pneumatic steel hot rolling as well as for his project of the total reconstruction of the Complex and implementing the project in most of the company’s divisions using the most advanced technologies. The logistics committee of the competition observed that this reconstruction did a lot of good to the environment of Nizhniy Tagil. The awarding ceremony will take

The subsidiary of Uralvneshtorgbank in Ufa celebrated its first anniversary n December 16, 2006. The subsidiary was preceded by a point-of–sale terminal that also dealt in loans; this terminal had been operating for six months when this experience made it possible to set up a subsidiary and develop the business in Bashkortostan. The bank managed to set up three more offices in Ufa as well as offices in Neftekamsk and Oktyabrskiy in 2006. It is also going to introduce an office in Salavat in the nearest future.

The experts of Metcombank observed that they had a new wave of increased demand for mortgage loans in December. They believe this has to do with both stable real estate prices and the introduction of the new crediting schemes. The bank gave 40m RUR worth of loans last week alone, with the most popular loans being the ones obtained in order to have a flat constructed. ‘The regional banks appreciate every client they’ve got, so they have to be very flexible in terms of changing demand. Metcombank was the first to introduce a few innovative offers in Sverdlovsk Region, which led to many more

‘Amendments to Tourist Business in the Russian Federation Act are likely to reduce the number of operating travel agents, Director of Yekaterinburg Travel Ltd. Alexander Korzhev said to UrBC representative. ‘The small agents will not be able to find the money needed to provide them with the required financial guarantees,’ Mr Korzhev believes. The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted the amendments to Tourist Business in the Russian Federation Act after the second reading. This new version requires that all travel agents provide financial guarantees; the sum comes to 10m RUR for agents

SKB-Bank assessed the results of its activity as of December 1, 2006. Most figures have gone up, thus indicating the company’s growth. The bank’s net wealth, for example, rose significantly and amounted to over 17.689bn RUR on December 1, 2006, with over 1bn RUR received in the last month. SKB-Bank managed to attract 16.061bn RUR worth of investments, with over 1bn RUR received in the last month. The volume of investments placed by natural persons reached the point of over 5,710bn RUR. The bank’s loan portfolio went up to 10.071bn RUR and proved to be well balanced and pose minimal risks. All

‘Getting all the papers needed for a trip to Germany is ever-hard in Yekaterinburg, this is why almost no local travel agents offer trips there,’ Fond Mira Travel Company said to UrBC representative. ‘The thing is, the German Consulate in Moscow is very reluctant to offer visas to Yekaterinburg companies as, theoretically, we have our own consulate; however, in practice, this consulate does not issue any visas. This has been going on for over two years now, which makes the performance of the local market player difficult,’ the company’s spokesperson said. The German Consulate introduced some

The average existing home prices (per square meter of dwelling) in the center of Yekaterinburg (i.e. in Moskovskaya St., Chelyuskintsy St., Vostochnaya St., Dekabristy St., Belinskiy St., and Bolshakov St.) went up by 6.61% on December 12, 2006, compared with November 14, 2006, reports the Analytical Department of the Ural Chamber of Real Estate. The figure rose by 4.10% in Yekaterinburg’s most expensive residential area (Avtovokzal, Yugo-Zapadniy, Parkoviy, Botanicheskiy, Vtuzgorodok, Shartashskiy, ZhBI – downtown and the south-west and the south-east of the city), by 5.48% in the city’s

Moody’s Interfax, the international rating agency, raised the rating of Chelyabinsk Region-based issuer from Aa1.ru to Aa2.ru based on the assessment of credit risk (11 points), the Russian Federation Baa2 rating, assessment of the probability of support (20%), and the assessment of the probability of default (70%).

The regional authorities introduced 727,500 square meters of new housing in Sverdlovsk Region in eleven months of 2006, of which 43.7% (317,900 square meters of dwellings) pertain to private houses (which exceeds the figures for 2005 by 17.4%) and 48.3% pertain to the city of Yekaterinburg. The total figure exceeds that for January-November 2005 by 11.7%, reports the regional division of the federal statistics agency. 37 regional cities managed to increase their construction rates compared to 2005: Nizhniy Tagil introduced 40,500 square meters of housing (an increase by 1.7 times), Revda