The construction of two new railroads with the total length of 1,500 kilometers is to begin in the Urals in 2010, Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Petr Latyshev informed Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev. Petr Latyshev said this would be done within the framework of the project on the industrial development of the northern parts of the Urals (known as The Industrial Urals-The Polar Urals). In fact, the project has already moved into the implementation stage, as the main railroad from Polunochnaya station to Obskaya station is already

The dwellers of Moscow Region like to keep their savings in foreign currency, while the rest of Russian citizens keep them in rubles: this is the conclusion the recent survey conducted by Bashkirov & Partners comes to. According to the survey, people who tend to keep their savings in foreign currency mainly live in Moscow (11%) and other large cities (15%); some of them are top executives who feel they make a lot of money (19%). At the same time, 43% of ‘average’ Russians invest their money in ruble deposits. This figure exceeds the results for 2005 by 7%. The survey analysts report

Ural Federal District’s division of General Prosecutor’s Office reports they detained the person who is believed to have masterminded a financial pyramid and to have stolen over a billion RUR. The name of the detainee is not being revealed for security reasons. The authorities say their investigation revealed the fraudster had been advertising his scheme quite conspicuously for a number of years, promising great profits from interbank foreign exchange market speculation. The unsuspecting people were invited to invest in the firms controlled by the fraudster, who, in order to lure more

Renova-StroyGroup-Akademicheskoye took part in an exhibition devoted to low-rise construction in Sverdlovsk Region with its housing complex project known as the 45th Quarter. This future complex will be located in the south-east of Yekaterinburg, next to the city’s future Academic district. The main idea behind the project is to combine the advantages of suburban low-rise housing with the amenities of a big city with its social and transport infrastructure. A group of government officials (Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Viktor Koksharov, deputy head of the State Duma’s Budget and

Eldorado, a consumer electronics and home appliances chain store, denies having any financial problems whatsoever. ‘We’d like to officially declare that any information related to the letters we allegedly sent to our suppliers asking them for a delay of payment is not true. Eldorado never sent any letters of this kind to any of its partners, and our finances are quite stable,’ Eldorado’s PR Manager Nadezhda Mikheeva said to an UrBC reporter. In the meantime, Eldorado has been rumored to be experiencing certain financial difficulties and asking its business partners for unscheduled time

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to sole traders despite overdraft plummeted by 100% (from 1.519 million RUR to zero) in January-June 2008.

Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Viktor Koksharov held a business meeting with the British Kingfisher’s executives (the company’s Real Estate Director Michael Bjerklund and Project Manager Ksenia Mostovskaya), the UK Consulate General in Yekaterinburg’s Advisor for Trade and Investments Yulia Alexeeva, the region’s Minister for Trade, Food, and Services Vera Solovieva, and Minister for State Property Management Alexei Molotkov. Viktor Koksharov said Sverdlovsk Region was quite interested in the large British low-price retailer’s arrival; however, Yekaterinburg seemed to be lacking

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Bank24.ru to sole traders for up to 30 days dropped by 100% (from 50 million RUR to zero) in January-June 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to sole traders for 1 to 3 years went down by 30.16% (from 333.034 million RUR to 232.576 million RUR) in January-June 2008.

Governor of Belgorod Region Evgeniy Savchenko chaired a meeting of Prioskolskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise Committee. The future enterprise is going to become one of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK)’s subsidiaries. The meeting was attended by MMK’s representatives involved in the construction of the ore mining enterprise (including MMK BOD Chairman Viktor Rashnikov). The attendees discussed the social projects currently carried out in Belgorod Region with MMK’s financial support. The implementation of the projects is monitored by an ad hoc fund. The fund’s council chooses

‘The information on services Neva offers looks rather dubious to professionals. As far as their Private Banking service is concerned, for instance, the company only speaks about ‘unlimited capital management opportunities, highest financial service standards, individual approach, strict confidentiality, special terms’ and so on,’ Management Company’s Investment Director Alexander Metzger said to UrBC. ‘As for their Trust Management offer, Neva provides more detailed data here, yet their information still leaves the field pretty open. Firstly, what they offer is not trust management but

Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation (Russia) and ABB Industries FZE (UAE) signed an agreement on strategic cooperation in the field of development, production, and supply of industrial produce as well as experience-sharing in terms of design, technologies, and expertise. The agreement is valid through the end of 2009. The two companies intend to work together on creating hi-tech systems and solutions for different branches of industry, including the metallurgical one. Both parties are to participate in drawing up and implementing of various projects and to contribute to mutual enhancement

The future apartment dwellers of Aston Park (the set of apartment blocks Aston is currently putting up at 14 Kunarskaya St. in Yekaterinburg) may not find enough parking lots for their cars. People who’ve invested in the apartments in the first buildings of Aston Park say the yard is not big enough to fit many cars. Besides, this yard is already partially occupied by steel garages. Apparently, Aston has been unable to handle the problem so far. The company’s representatives report they are planning to put up a two-level underground car park next to the first buildings of Aston Park (two

SKB-Bank came up with a new offer for its customers, who now don’t have to worry about any commission on a loan. The offer is currently available for customers who apply for a loan with the collateral known as ‘loan to a friend’. The money can be transferred into the customer’s bank card account if they like, and the customer does not have to pay the 2% commission. In case the borrower uses the money through non-cash operations, this will be commission-free for them as well, SKB-Bank’s press officer reports. SKB-Bank’s Consumer Lending Director Konstantin Bogatyrev says this is a good offer

‘Local drivers are buying 12% more Toyota cars lately, so our center sold about 20% more cars in the first half of 2008 compared with the first half of 2007,’ Toyota Center Yekaterinburg Vostok reports. The car center’s experts say the most popular car makes are Corolla, Avensis, Auris, RAV4, and Camry, usually in silver and black. In the first half of 2008, Toyota Camry, a business class car, became about 9% (80,000 to 100,000 RUR) less expensive due to the fact that it is now assembled at a Russian factory. In addition, the delivery grew speedier for most models, as Toyota’s delivery quotas

Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (ChTPZ Group’s largest tube and pipe manufacturers) supplied their consumers with 867,800 tons of tubular goods in the first half of 2008, which falls short of the figures for a year earlier (that is, 969,500 tons) by 10%. ChTPZ Group sold 463,400 tons of tubes and pipes in the first six months of the year, which falls short of the figures for a year earlier (that is, 539,000 tons) by 14%. These figures include a 22% drop in the amount of large-diameter pipes: this came to 235,000 tons compared with 302,600 tons of LDPs in

АК&М Rating Agency, supported by the Soviet of the Federation, did a research on the Russian Federation’s constituent entities’ credit solvency. Sverdlovsk Region was Russia’s No.5 in terms of credit solvency based on its financial performance, only outstripped by Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Perm Territory, and Krasnoyarsk Territory. As for its credit solvency based on its economic performance, the region was given the 8th best position. Then, the agency rated Sverdlovsk Region No.9 in terms of integrated level of relative credit solvency in 2007 (compared with the fifth position in 2006).

The Federal Tourism Agency (Rostourism) recently hosted a meeting of the hotel assessment committee chaired by Rostourism’s Deputy Head Natela Shengeliya. The committee looked into twenty-six applications for categories, placed by all kinds of hotels and lodgings, and categorized twenty-four hotels and lodgings within the range of 1 to 5 . Yekaterinburg-based Senator Hotel and Grand Avenue Hotel were given the fourth and the third categories, respectively.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralFinPromBank to sole traders for 31 to 90 days dropped by 93.50% (from 18.18 million RUR to 1.18 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

Renova-StroyGroup-Akademicheskoye is going to take part in an exhibition devoted to low-rise construction in Sverdlovsk Region with its housing complex project known as the 45th Quarter. This future complex will be located in the south-east of Yekaterinburg, next to the city’s future Academic district. The layout for the project has been developed by Albert Speer&Partner GmbH, the company’s press officer reports. The housing complex will consist of a number of cottages, united by a single architectural concept, guarded premises, united infrastructure and maintenance facilities. The area