Inventor and billionaire Elon Musk and public transit consultant Jarrett Walker keep debating over urban transit online; the latter is known for contributing to the project to reform Yekaterinburg’s public transit system. The debate first hit the spotlight when the man behind Tesla and Falcon called Jarrett Walker an idiot; but this is about more than just personal disagreements. At the heart of the dispute are two long-term urban transit development concepts: Musk believes the future belongs to ‘individualized transport’, whereas Walker and his supporters vote for public transit. As is

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2017. Sinara Group set up a licensed medical practice at its Romantic Hotel in Arkhyz, the company’s all-year-round mountain resort, the Group’s PR Center reports. The small practice will deal in prevention and rehabilitating treatment of bronchopulmonary diseases. Based on advice from a physician, visitors to the health resort can undergo rehabilitation and prevention therapy for two to fifteen days. The therapy includes breathing exercises, nebulizer inhalations, halotherapy, and oxygen cocktails. Additionally, all visitors to Arkhyz will also be offered

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2017. Employees of Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Station received memorable badges for the construction of BN 800 Reactor Power-Generating Unit 4 on Energy Engineer’s Day, the station’s press service reports. The badges will be given to over 2,000 employees of contractor companies who focused on the design, construction, assembly, and startup of the unit, as well as to the employees of the station’s various divisions who contributed to design, construction, assembly, and startup and commissioning. Workers of Atomproyekt, Uralenergostroy, Uralenergomontazh,

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, December 25, 2017. More than twenty mayors and heads of city councils from Chelyabinsk Oblast went on a tour of Russian Copper Company Group’s Karabashmed in Karabash. The visitors also looked at the new sports facility Metallurg the company put up and talked to the plant’s long-service employees who practice at the Active Longevity Sports Club, the company’s press service reports. Metallurg looks very impressive. The gym is particularly well-equipped. Karabash used to be seen as an economically depressed town, but now we can say with confidence that you don’t find a gym

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2017. ChTPZ Group’s 15th Snezhnost Charity Theater Festival closed in the Urals and the Volga Region this week. This year, the plays were performed in Chelyabinsk, Pervouralsk, Almetyevsk, and (for the first time ever) Ozersk, the Group’s press service reports. More than 15,000 young spectators got to see the festival plays. They are children from foster homes and live-in schools, children from low-income families, children of single parents, children from multiple-children families, and students of schools the Group supports financially. Some of them are

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2017. Sverdlovsk Oblast imposed a temporary ban on import of tangerines from Abkhazia because of a halyomorpha halys (marmorated stink bug) contagion, Head of Sverdlovsk Oblast’s division of Rospotrebnadzor Natalya Saifulina told UrBC. ‘Tangerines are no longer imported to Sverdlovsk Oblast from Abkhazia. Once this bug has been detected, all imports had to stop, as these tangerines must be quarantined and any import is forbidden. Actually, there aren’t even enough fruits left to get exported because of this bug. Plus the quarantine and the import embargo,’

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 22, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) proved Sverdlovsk Oblast’s largest charity donor among ferrous metallurgical enterprises, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press service reports. EVRAZ Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (KGOK) was also among the largest donors in the mining sector. This year, the company directed over RUR 1.6m to charity and social projects in the Urals. NTMK also proved one of the most prolific benefactors in Nizhniy Tagil. ‘EVRAZ Holding supports educational, culture, and healthcare establishments

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 22, 2017. A new kindergarten for 250 children opened in Yekaterinburg’s Akademicheskiy District today. This is the ninth pre-school establishment in the area. Kindergarten 43 can be found at 38 Wilhelm de Gennin St. The building was put up impressively fast: workers entered the construction site in the summer and completed all the jobs in December. This cost RUR 140m to build and get ready. According to RSG-Akademicheskoye’s Director-General Viktor Kisselev, everything was ready so fast due to efficient public-private partnership schemes. ‘We provided a land

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, December 22, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) was among the top three companies on the National Purchasing Transparency List for the year 2017 as Private Commercial Customers, MMK Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. The awarding ceremony took place at Russia’s Chamber for Commerce & Industry in Moscow. The event was attended by representatives of state, local government, municipal, corporate, and commercial customers. MMK came third in the rating of 113 private commercial customers and first in the rating of High Transparency Companies.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 22, 2017. Sinara Group’s/ Sinara Transport Machines’ Ural Diesem Motor Plant (UDMZ) and Zvezda set up a joint venture meant for making high-speed engines on a serial scale, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. According to Russia’s Minister for Industry & Trade Denis Manturov, setting up a leading national engine-building plant is the first step necessary to start making new-generation Russian engines that will be fully comparable with their foreign counterparts and will prove even better than those in certain respects. ‘The key thing is that UMDZ and Zvezda

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 22, 2017. 32% of local companies are only going to have reduced budget for their office New Year parties this year, HeadHunter reports. According to HH’s survey findings, the share of Russian businesses that choose to celebrate New Year at an office party hasn’t changed since 2014: 74% of respondents keep having them, despite the country’s ongoing economic hardships. ‘Restaurants remain the preferred event venue: nearly a half of those surveyed are going to have their company New Year party at a restaurant. 16% of businesses will have office parties, and every

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2017. Rosset Group’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems (FGC UES) took on twenty-five vocational school and college graduates to work at its Western Siberia branches. These are mostly people with degrees from the Urals- and Siberia-based universities, FCG UES Western Siberia’s PR & Media Group reports. The company runs cooperation agreements with twelve colleges in the area, including Surgut University, Vyatka University, Tomsk Polytechnic, South Ural State University, Tyumen Industrial University, and Yugra University. Working in close

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2017. A new kindergarten for 250 children will open in Yekaterinburg’s Akademicheskiy District on December 21, 2017. The up-to-date building of Kindergarten 43 can be found at 38 Wilhelm de Gennin St. Workers entered the construction site in the summer and completed all the jobs in December. The kindergarten in 100% ready to open. The facade is finished off with grey bricks and decorative brightly colored composite plates between the corner windows. The building has all the rooms necessary for great quality daycare/education programs. Children will start

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2017. Ural Airlines’s 600,000th passenger of the year was welcomed and presented with special gifts at Tomsk International Airport on December 19, 2017. Anton Mikhailichenko was flying to Moscow with Ural Airlines’ morning flight, the air carrier’s press service reports. The airline and the airport presented the special passenger with a voucher for one Tomsk-Moscow-Tomsk flight, a VIP member card, and some souvenirs. There was a little celebration with air balloons, presents, and a show by professional performers as usual. Additionally, the airport’s catering

UrBC, Moscow, December 21, 2017. The telecommunications provider MegaFon launched its own cash back service in time for the winter’s holiday season. MegaFon’s customers can now get money bonuses for shopping at 391 different online platforms, including Svyaznoy, M.Video, Media Markt, Lamoda, Aviasales, Adidas, and OBI. According to the company press service, the money will get transferred into a customer’s phone account and can be spent on mobile communication or shopping or taken out as cash with the help of MegaFon bank card. The service (#Специи) works for several hundred popular online

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2017. Yekaterinburg-based developers are going to get slightly under 1m m2 of new housing commissioned by the end of the year. This is the first time since 2013 that their overall output stands at less than 1m m2 a year, Deputy Head of Yekaterinburg Council for Capital Construction & Land Use Alexei Belyshev said at a press conference. ‘963,000 m2 of new housing will get commissioned in Yekaterinburg this year altogether, including 868,000 m2 of apartment buildings, 73,000 m2 of private houses, 13,000 m2 of low-rise buildings, and 9,000 m2 of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 20, 2017. ChTPZ Group’s and Severstal’s 22nd Coordination Council meeting took place in Cherepovets this month. The event was attended by representatives of the Group’s production, technical, and commercial departments, the company press service reports. The two parties agreed to update their scientific and technological cooperation program. For one, they will work together on the corrosion-resistant rolled goods and new steel varieties for stamp-welded pipeline components at ChTPZ Group’s ETERNO. Severstal and ChTPZ Group also discussed the specifics of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 20, 2017. ChTPZ Group was issued a syndicated loan of up to €150m (or U.S. dollar equivalent), the Group’s press service reports. This is an unsecured club-deal offer with a four-year loan period. A syndicate of international banks (Reiffeisenbank, Commerzbank (Eurasia), UniCreditBank, Rosbank, ICBC Bank, and Agricultural Bank of China acted as creditors and mandated lead arrangers. ‘This is a bi-currency credit line with upper limits at €65m and $35m. The CL can be extended to the extra €10 and $40m that can be provided by either the original creditors or the

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, December 20, 2017. Russian Copper Company Group’s Kyshtym Copper Electrolysis Plant in Kyshtym, Chelyabinsk Oblast is going to set a selenium production record for the year 2017, with the annual output at 57,000 kg. The last record (48,300 kg) was set in 2014, the Group’s press service reports. The plant managed to increase its selenium output thanks to fully switching to mineral raw stuffs supplied by Karabashmed. These stuffs have greater crude selenium content, which means Kyshtym Copper Electrolysis Plant’s engineers had to raise the refining department’s

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, December 20, 2017. Russian Copper Company Group’s Karabashmed now has a new set of equipment (total diameter: 24 m) to have its flotation tailings thickened, the Group’s press service reports. Switching to this new equipment will boost the plant’s copper concentrate output and will also enhance the facility’s environmental safety. Tailings thickening is necessary to ensure their reliable supply to the draining section from which ready-made copper concentrate and mortar sand come out. ‘In addition to this new unit, the plant also has five new aspiration units at its