UrBC, Chelyabinsk, October 19, 2018. Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky confirmed and approved of a revised ‘roadmap’ on dealing with private investors in housing co-operatives who did not get their homes built for them. Five problem apartment buildings have been taken off the list already. ‘The revised ‘roadmap’ is now available on Chelyabinsk Region Government’s website. Three apartment buildings developed by Greenflight and a building put up by OOO Rechelstroy and ChelSI each are no longer on the problem list,’ the Government’s Press Service & Information Department

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 19, 2018. There are now fewer head of cattle of all kinds at Sverdlovsk Region’s farms, Sverdlovskstat reports. The pig count, for example, dropped by 4.8% in the first nine months of the year compared with one year earlier and is down to 115,000 pigs; that of poultry decreased by 3.5% and is down to 13,700 chickens and ducks; that of sheep and goats declined by 4.9% and is down to 65,800 head of cattle; that of cows dropped by 1.5%, or by 1,700 head. Based on Sverdlovskstat’s statistical data, the decrease mostly has to do with agribusinesses’ shrinking counts.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 19, 2018. The per-square-meter price rose by 3.7% on Yekaterinburg existing home market since the start of the year, Ural Real Estate Chamber reports. ‘As of October 15, 2018, existing home price comes to RUR 69,762 per m2 on average. This is 0.8% more than four weeks previously. The average housing prices keep rising as the least expensive homes are no longer on offer in all the quality market segments,’ the Chamber explains. There are currently 7,925 apartments for sale in Yekaterinburg, which is 1% less than a month earlier, and 13.3% less than one year

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 19, 2018. Sverdlovsk Region-based banks issued 90.1% more credit cards in the third quarter of 2018 than in in the third quarter of 2017, National Credit History Bureau’s research findings indicate. In QIII’17, 50,328 credit cards got issued; one year later, the future is 95,693. In Russia on the whole, the number of newly issued credit cards rose by 61.8% between QIII’17 and QIII’18, that is, from 1.81m up to 2.94m.

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, October 18, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) now offers guided tours of the premises to the general public, with a few routes to choose from, the company press service reports. MMK has been hosting guided tours for visitors for a while now: over 4,000 people came to see the plant last year alone. Now there are special options for the younger visitors as well. Taming the Fire is a guided tour of Russia’s largest blast furnace department and the unique Mill 5000 that makes goods for large-diameter pipe manufacturers as well as for ship- and bridge-building

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, October 18, 2018. M.I. Glinka Chelyabinsk State Opera & Ballet Theater’s Children’s Singing School is going to stage an opera at the initiative of and with financial support from ChelPipe Group’s shareholders Andrei Komarov and Alexander Fedorov, the Group’s press service reports. The Cat's House by A.P. Kulagin/S.Ya. Marshak is a special treat for visitors to ChelPipe Group’s 16th Snezhnost Charity Festival in December 2018. All the parts will be performed by the children’s school’s students. The young performers are now rehearsing and going to choreography,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 18, 2018. Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems bought a new, unique loading crane for its fleet of vehicles in Russia’s Polar North, FGC UES Western Siberia’s PR & Media Group reports. ‘Vityaz, the new special-purpose crane (freight capacity: 25,000 kg; boom length: 27 m), is unique to Russia’s electric power sector. The all-terrain crane will be used to repair electric mains in the Polar North territories, including the woods, the marshes, and the deep snow spots. Prior to this purchase, repairs used to require resorting to a helicopter or building a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 18, 2018. Ural Airlines are offering their customers state-subsidized, reduced-price flights to and from Kaliningrad and cities in Russia’s Far East, the air carrier’s press service reports. The offer holds for the following flights: Moscow-Kaliningrad/Kaliningrad-Moscow (prices start from RUR 1,700) Saint Petersburg-Kaliningrad/Kaliningrad-Saint Petersburg (RUR 1,700) Chita-Yekaterinburg/Yekaterinburg-Chita (RUR 5,000) Chita-Moscow/Moscow-Chita (RUR 6,200) Blagoveshchensk-Moscow/Moscow-Blagoveshchensk (RUR 6,400) Blagoveshchensk-Saint Petersburg/Saint

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, October 18, 2018. Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky ruled that six local towns should be given subsidies to work on reclamation of their respective landfills, Southern Urals Government’s Press Service & Information Department reports. The money will get allocated to Ozersk, Troitsk, Zlatoust, Verkhniy Ufaley, and Districts Kartalinsky and Argayashsky. There are currently 26 landfills located within urban living quarters in the Southern Urals all in all. ‘Russian President Vladimir Putin called for the development a master-planned waste disposal/recycling

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, October 17, 2018. MMK Group sold 3,052,000,000 kg of ready goods in the third quarter of 2018, which exceeded the figures for the previous quarter by 7.2%, the company’s website states. Among other things, the Group sold 1,351,000,000 kg of high value-added goods in QIII’18 (-2.1% against QII’18); HVA goods amounted to 44.3% of the company’s overall product range on offer. The Group’s member enterprise MMK-Ugol produced 808,000,000 kg of coal concentrate in the third quarter of the year (up 8.3% on the previous quarter). Between January and September 2018, MMK-Ugol

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 17, 2018. Ural Airlines will be operating Osh-Kazan-Osh flights starting October 28, 2018 and Osh-Krasnodar-Osh flights starting October 30, 2018, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘Russia and Kyrgyzstan are long-term political and economic partners, so convenient air travel is crucial to people in both countries,’ the press service says. Osh-Kazan flights will be operated every Sunday, Kazan-Osh ones every Monday. Prices start from RUR 9,900 and RUR 9,600, respectively. Krasnodar-Osh-Krasnodar flights will be operated on Wednesdays/Tuesdays; prices start

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, October 17, 2018. The Russian Government is to decide on a contractor for Chelyabinsk Airport reconstruction, Southern Urals Government’s Press Service & Information Department refers to Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky as stating. ‘Chelyabinsk will have to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS summits in 2020. It is important to make sure the airport infrastructure meets all the international standards and summit requirements. Glavekspertiza recently approved of the documentation relating to the first stage of the reconstruction process, so

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, October 17, 2018. Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky coordinated a meeting with local town mayors, who reported on how Russian President Vladimir Putin’s provisions on the development of urban transit schemes by local authorities got complied with, Southern Urals Government’s Press Service & Information Department reports. The comprehensive urban transit scheme is the groundwork strategic plan that describes and systematizes the following transport infrastructure components: the number of bus/tram stops; the number of zebra crossings and underground

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 17, 2018. Sverdlovsk Region’s industrial production index (IPI) dropped by 7.5% in September 2018 compared with one month earlier, Sverdlovskstat reports. The IPI went down by 8.5% in the processing industry sector, including a 28.1% decrease in the drinks industry, a 34.1% drop in the textile industry, and a 22.4% drop in the pharmaceuticals production sector. The IPI also went down by 11.9% in the sector for production and distribution of electric power. Compared with September 2017, however, Sverdlovsk Region’s IPI rose by 6.3%.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 16, 2018. President of KORTROS Group Veniamin Golubitsky won the prestigious national real estate prize RREF Awards in Reputation & Trust, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. The category applies to nominees seen as the most progressive and successful developer/real estate market leaders whose personal contribution to their business development and to the overall market’s growth truly stand out. Veniamin Golubitsky has been running KORTROS Group (known as Renova-StroyGroup before 2013) since 2005; the company deals in development projects that offer

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, October 16, 2018. Metallurg Charity Foundation, for which Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is the primary sponsor and benefactor, turned thirty this month, MMK’s press service reports. ‘The foundation got set up in 1988, when the drastic economic changes and their consequences hit the country’s most socially vulnerable strata (retirees and people with disabilities) the hardest. The government was unable to take care of most of its citizens, and MMK management started to look into alternative ways to offer its former employees a social safety net,’ the press

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 16, 2018. Customers based in the Urals are turning to cashless payments increasingly more often when it comes to the entertainment sector: every one in fifteen purchases paid for by MegaFon Card pertains to theater/movie/concert tickets, the company’s press service reports. ‘According to our analysts’ data, 71% of customers who bought the tickets last month are men. Some of them are true record-setters: one Sverdlovsk Region-based customer bought tickets to 57 different events in the course of one month. This is nearly three times as many as the number of events

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 16, 2018. Ural Airlines are offering their customers reduced-price tickets on Palma de Mallorca flights to be operated during the New Year break, the air carrier’s press service reports. The special-offer flights will be operated on December 29, 2018; and January 2, 5, 9, and 12, 2019. Prices start from RUR 13,100/€170 for a round trip ticket. The tickets are already available for purchase. ‘Palma de Mallorca is a great place to go to in any season. Around New Year, the island turns into one big, spectacular Christmas market. There are festive parades, carnivals,

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, October 16, 2018. Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky took a tour of the facilities in Chelyabinsk that are now being reconstructed and improved as part of the federal-funded Comfortable Urban Improvement Program and the Governor’s Actual Accomplishements Program, Southern Urals Government’s press department reports. The Governor spoke very highly of the reconstruction projects and pointed out that infrastructure development in the local towns and villages was the government’s top priority. For one, Governor Dubrovsky went to Aloye Pole Park that is being

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, October 15, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is about to launch its new Sintering Plant 5 with two very special sintering units that are currently unique to Russia, MMK Information & PR Department reports. The tech equipment is still being assembled for the units at the moment; the metal frameworks for the sintering plant’s building and facilities need to get put up as well. The two new sintering unit have a sintering area of 300 m2 per each sintering belt (height of the sintering mix layer: 700 mm). This is much better than the current parameters of