‘Business and premium class apartments are the most profitable types of dwellings at the moment, yet we should bear in mind that these are the economy class apartments that enjoy the greatest demand, so it is also advantageous to raise the number of economy class dwellings,’ Konstantin Drozdov, General Director of Aston Group, said to UrBC representative. ‘One-room apartments are by far the most popular ones, particularly those with very small kitchens and bathrooms which minimize the total area of the dwelling. But you can’t put up a building with one-room apartments only as you will have to

‘Business and premium class apartments are the most profitable types of dwellings at the moment, yet we should bear in mind that these are the economy class apartments that enjoy the greatest demand, so it is also advantageous to raise the number of economy class dwellings,’ Konstantin Drozdov, General Director of Aston Group, said to UrBC representative. ‘One-room apartments are by far the most popular ones, particularly those with very small kitchens and bathrooms which minimize the total area of the dwelling. But you can’t put up a building with one-room apartments only as you will have to

‘Following the inspection of Mega Trade Center, its management was supposed to have eliminated forty-six fire safety violations. They have only dealt with twenty-three cases so far,’ Viktor Shangin, Deputy Head of the regional division of Russia’s fire surveillance agency under the Department of Emergencies, announced at a recent press conference. ‘The schedule for dealing with the offenses must be approved of by the proprietor, but the deadlines are set by an inspector. Mega is obliged to bring everything in compliance with the fire safety regulations by the end of January,’ Mr Shangin said.

McPeak, a fast food restaurant located at 44 Malyshev St., was closed down three days ago. As Natalia Avvakumova, the personnel manager of Malachite (the chain that owns the restaurant) said to UrBC representative, the management and the letters were unable to agree on the amount of rent. According to Ms Avvakumova, the restaurant is going to move to another building, although it is not yet clear where and when it will start operating again.

SKB-Bank is ready to offer its clients 170m RUR worth of customs guarantees. This is the sum determined for the bank by the local customs. A customs guarantee is a way of securing the payment of import and export fees, import-related VAT, excise duties, and customs duties. The use of the customs guarantees helps a business make its money management more effective as the corporate funds are left intact. SKB-Bank has been the authorized dealer acting within the framework of the Russian Federation Customs Code since 2004. The upper limit of a single customs guarantee comes to 35m RUR at the

‘The company is hoping to increase the number of flights by 10% to 15% in 2007. I believe we will be able to reach the target figures, especially since we’ve recently bought some new Airbus planes that will be delivered this spring. These planes will most likely be used for summer flights,’ Commercial Director of Ural Airlines Kirill Skuratov said to UrBC representative. ‘We upgraded our frequent flier program at the end of 2006, and its main benefit now consists in switching from points to rubles; besides, a client gets a 10% refund on the price of the ticket. The system has become very

UralmashSpetsstal Ltd. (part of United Machine Building Works (aka OMZ (Obedinennye Mashinostroitelnye Zavody, formerly United Heavy Machinery)) and Shanghai Electric E&A Industrial Development Co. Ltd. signed a contract providing for the delivery of $4m worth of backup rolls with 4% chromium content in 2007, reports the spokesperson for UralmashSpetsstal. Shanghai Electric E&A Industrial Development Co. Ltd. deals in metallurgical equipment production; this is why it is interested in the rolls and other pieces of equipment produced by UralmashSpetsstal. UralmashSpetsstal Ltd. has

According to the report on the state of the environment and the way environmental factors affect the health of Sverdlovsk Region population, enterprises located in Kirovgrad, Sverdlovsk Region, produced 765,800 tons of production waste. Polymetallic Production, the subsidiary of UralElectroMed (part of Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company), became the top waste producer, as its share in the total amount of waste comes to 765,500 tons (with around half of this constituted by slag, dross, and dust). The local environmental authorities identified 19 disposal dumps in the town; their total area

‘According to our analytical data (available online), the bad reputation of Russian Standard Bank does not coincide with its financial records, which is a negative factor,’ report the experts of Rus-Rating agency. They also say that if the bank keeps up with its current consumer lending policies, it will have a hard time retaining its share of the market. ‘One might think the bank’s financial records look good at first, but a closer examination would reveal that that it will soon find it difficult to stay successful. The company’s activity record indicates that its loan portfolio growth is

Eight people were killed and seven people were injured in the fire accident that took place at Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Magnitogorsk on November 28, 2006. The Interdepartmental committee looked into the causes of the fire, but Chelyabinsk Region State Fire Surveillance disagreed with the committee’s report on quite a few points. According to the experts of State Fire Surveillance, some grave violations of the fire safety regulations could be observed at the Complex; the company’s executives were actually administratively prosecuted for failing to meet these requirements. Besides,

Metalline Ltd. did not put up any dwellings meant for allotment in 2006, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. They did commission 17,625 square meters of buildings, though, including 7,500 square meters of business class dwellings, 4,425 square meters of class B offices, 1,200 square meters of trade areas, and 4,500 square meters of hotels. Thus, the shares of these types of real estate came to 42%, 25%, 7%, and 26% of the total amount of real estate produced by Metalline in 2006.

The Russian Federation Federal Antimonopoly Service instituted legal proceedings against UralKaliy, Nizhnekamskneftekhim, Apatite JSC, and, accusing them of violating the federal legislation on protection of competition, reports the spokesperson for Federal Antimonopoly Service. Sylvinite JSC and UralKaliy are charged with setting monopolistically firm prices for their potassium chloride. Nizhnekamskneftekhim is accused of discriminating against its rivals in terms of transferring ethylene with the help of an ethylene pipeline. Apatite JSC has allegedly discriminated against its competitors

The Court of Arbitration rejected the application regarding the possible dismissal of case of HydroSpetsStroy (general contractor of Noviy Grad, the local builder). So, the situation around the developer is not going to change, its trustee in bankruptcy Olga Rushitskaya said to UrBC representative. HydroSpetsStroy is currently in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings; it owes its creditors over 55m RUR.

The environmental experts of Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise (part of Evraz Group) evaluated the company’s conservational activity in 2006, says the spokesperson for the company. The enterprise managed to reduce the amount of manufacturing atmospheric emissions by 11% last year, which was made possible due to the multi-faceted upgrading of the obsolete equipment and introduction of the new facilities at the processing and agglomeration shops. The corporate environmental experts have been trying to help the local environment since 1989. Within this period, the amount of

‘Vodolei casino was closed on January 15, 2007 since it was owned by a sole trader, which contradicts the new gambling business legislation,’ Elena Levchenko, the director of Vodolei entertainment center, said to UrBC representative. The federal law regarding the state regulation of gambling activity came into effect on January 1, 2007. Vodolei casino had been operating in Yekaterinburg for eight years; it used to be one of the most popular local gambling places. Metropolia casino was closed down as well; according to Ms Levchenko, it belonged to the same proprietor.

The students of the sports school supported by Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group) won one gold medal, three silver medals, and two bronze ones in the Ural Federal District Table Tennis Championship, says the company’s press officer. Yana Klimochkina and Alexei Likhachev became the best sportspersons of Nizhniy Tagil after they outstripped 170 young tennis players from Nizhnevartovsk, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, and Magnitogorsk in the course of a tournament that took place in Yekaterinburg. The players from Nizhniy Tagil won both team and individual championships

The average price of one square meter of a Yekaterinburg-based class B office under construction (interior design not included) grew 73% higher in 2006 as far as the center of the city is concerned (i.e. Moskovskaya St., Chelyuskintsy St., Vostochnaya St., Dekabristy St., Belinskiy St., and Bolshakov St.). Namely, the prices soared from 47,540 RUR per square meter in October 2005 to 69,000 RUR one year later, reports Ural Chamber of Real Estate. As regards the city’s most expensive residential area (Avtovokzal, Yugo-Zapadniy, Parkoviy, Botanicheskiy, Vtuzgorodok, Shartashskiy, ZhBI,

SKB-Bank introduced a subsidiary in Perm, thus expanding its geographical spread in Russia even greater. The office is located in the centre of the city at 30 Gazeta Zvezda St. The bank’s new subsidiary offers the full range of banking services to both businesses and individual clients and welcomes the former from 9 AM to 4 PM on weekdays and the latter on 9 AM to 7 PM on weekdays and from 9 AM to 4 PM on weekends. SKB-Bank now has 54 offices, 19 of which are Yekaterinburg-based supplementary ones. Thirty more offices are located in the cities of Sverdlovsk Region, with the remaining five

The report on the state of the environment and the way environmental factors affect the health of Sverdlovsk Region population indicates that the air in Verknyaya Pyshma is polluted with sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead, fluorides, and black copper oxides. UralElectroMed (part of Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC)) is the area’s major polluter with its 44.4%-share of all the local harmful emissions. The company is also responsible for 70.2% of all the sulphur dioxide in the area, 50.4% of all nitrogen dioxide, 99.7% of emitted lead, 96.2% of all dumped black

Oleg Cherepanov, Chairman of NOVA Group, was detained in Nizhniy Tagil following the decision of Nevyanskiy court made at the request of the local public prosecution authorities on January 19, 2007. Mr Cherepanov is suspected of a capital offense; he was earlier involved in a criminal suit regarding illegal confinement and domestic burglary; his current detention was performed within the framework of the criminal investigation. Mr Cherepanov had already gone through trials related to robbery and organized crime. NOVA Group refused to comment on the situation saying they would soon produce an