‘We’ve lost some hundred thousand dollars due to cancelled and delayed flights, Sergei Busko, GD of Mir Travel Company, reported during today’s press conference. ‘We had to look for other ways of making sure our clients arrived safely to their holiday destinations, we also had to cover all the trip and accommodation expenses while a suitable rearrangement was being adjusted. Our losses can be described as tremendous but not devastating, and it’s now the company’s top priority to recover financially,’ Mr Busko said. ‘We managed to arrange our clients’ trips through other flights, and some of

According to Yulia Fedorova, Koltsovo airport spokesperson, two Moscow carriers applied for regular flights between Moscow and Yekaterinburg in the end of 2005. ‘However, the decision on whether to give them any slots hasn’t been arrived at yet. Such flights are currently performed by three airlines, and two more carriers mean the arrival of fierce competition, especially given that large airlines can afford lower-than-the-market prices.’ Ms Fedotova notes that there have also been applications from some foreign carriers, an Austrian airline (scheduled to start operating in April 2006), a

According to the spokesperson for Beloyarskaya nuclear power plant, BN-600, a power generating unit, was working at power rating level and fully met the electricity-generating requirements for all of 2005. There hadn’t been any safety or limit violations either, and the rare gas activity breakthrough in December comprised 0.2% of the upper limit. The radiation level in the town of Zarechniy and the power plant site was not any bigger than usual and fluctuated between 4 and 20 microroentgen per hour, which is believed to be typical of Russia. The corresponding figures for Beloyarskoye

According to the spokesperson for Sverdlovsknefteproduct JSC, the official dealer of Sibneft JSC (Siberian supplier) in Sverdlovsk Region, the company managed to keep the mineral oil prices at their filling stations stable throughout the year 2005. ‘We believe this is due to a moratorium declared by some oil companies,’ the spokesperson reports. The same is true of Ural Oil Company (TNC JSC), says the company’s representative. ‘We aren’t planning to have the mineral oil prices go up since the wholesale prices have decreased by the end of the year,’ the representative of the company’s Sales

Mortgage Housing Loan Agency JSC introduced a differential interest rate on mortgage credits depending on the scale of the initial payment and loan terms on January 1, 2006. This means that what was previously just one credit type is now going to expand to six different types of loans varying depending on the crediting conditions. Thus, the initial payment of 70% to 50% and 1- to 15-year loan terms determine the rate of 12%. The upper interest rate limit is set at 16% and applies to credits with the 10% to 30% initial payment and a 15- to 30-year term. The beginning of the year was also

Yekaterinburg is going to receive over a billion RUR for road building and maintenance as well as for municipal improvements. 532 million RUR have already been reserved in the city budget. The other half should presumably come from the funds of Sverdlovsk Region Territorial Road Fund. The town council is planning to exceed last year’s output in this sphere during 2006.

‘Delays and cancellations of three Mir Travel Company-booked flights are caused by failing to pay promptly’, Mikhail Churkanov, GD of Transglobal Airline CJSC, announced at today’s press conference. ‘According to our contract with Mir, it had to pay for the flights no later than December 22, 2005. The last payment was only made on December 28 though, and, consequently, we were unable to conduct all the negotiations needed, including those with the host companies,’ Mr Churkanov said. ‘We’ve suffered considerable losses: the exact amount is currently being specified. Yet we intend to transfer

Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration is to consider the suit brought by Kamishlovskiy Metalloobrabativayushiy Zavod CJSC (Metalworking plant of Kamishlov) against Eurogreen Financial Investment Company today. As the plant’s spokesperson told the agency’s representative, the reason of suing Eurogreen is its violating the shareholders’ selling privilege (the sales transaction was conducted on October 20). The plant puts special emphasis on seeing the purpose of the suit as bringing in the verdict of the transaction being illicit.

KES Holding sees the state of events in regional consumer power supply caused by some municipalities’ non-payments and deliberate insolvency as critical, goes the company’s press release. Among the debtors are Billing Center PLC (Holding member), Gavan PLC of Rezh, Bazhenovskoye Housing and Comunal Services Unitary Enterprise, Upravleniye municipalnogo zakazchika Unitary Enterprise, and the water supply factories Alapaevskiy Vodokanal PLC, Vodokanal Unitary Enterprise of Nizhneturinskiy District, and Vodokanal Unitary Enterprise of Beloyarsk. According to the release, Billing Center PLC is

‘Transglobal Airline CJSC abided and satisfied its liabilities under the contract with Mir Travel Company. Aircrafts ready to bring the passengers to Salzburg(Austria), Goa(India) and Bali(Indonesia) were ready for departure at Koltsovo airport. Yet Mir Travel Company did not pay for the flights timely: we only had the prepayment, not the full pay. That is why the decision to call them off was made,’ General Director of Transglobal Airline Mikhail Churkanov said to the agency’s representative. According to Mr Churkanov, after January 20 the downtime costs of Transglobal airline will be summed

Sverdlovsk Region Government approved of local wholesale trade development strategy planned up to the year 2010. According to the Governor’s PR department representatives, the trend-setting guidelines for the wholesale trade development had been based on the data obtained trough the branch performance analysis over the last five years. The wholesale trade turnover in Sverdlovsk Region has quadrupled (in price terms) over the years 2000-2005, reaching the point of 600 billion RUR in 2005. The turnover figures for Sverdlovsk Region comprise 60% of the total turnover in the Ural Federal

Federal Tariff Service set upper limits of local tariffs on communal services at 112% for Sverdlovsk Region, 113.1% for Yamalo-Nenetsk Region, 113.5% for Chelyabinsk Region, 114% for Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region, and 120% for Tyumen and Kurgan Regions. Given the regional extra charges, the average price growth in Russia will come to anything between 110% and 122%. The maximum increase that heating tariffs may experience is that of 112% for Sverdlovsk Region (excluding the heat coming from power stations that combine generation of thermal energy with electricity generation). This maximum

On January 1, Reftinskaya and Sredneuralskaya water power plants left TGK-9, a local generating company whose subsidiaries had been up to that moment. They are now going to be managed by OGK-5, a wholesale generating company, TGK-9 spokesperson reports. Both power plants are to function within the framework of the Russian Power System Reform Plan adopted by OGK-5. This new merger of the plants with OGK-5 signifies the final step in designing the company’s structure. OGK-5 is going to take full responsibility in what regards providing Reftinskaya and Sredneuralskaya water power plants

Trubnaya Metallurgicheskaya Kompaniya JSC (Tube casting Metallurgical Company) summed up its production success for the year 2005. According to the company’s spokesperson, the total shipping output of its pipes and tubes came up to 2.855 Мton in 2005, which is 14% more than in 2004. The company also cast 1.95 Mton of steel last year, which is 5% more than in 2004. 246,000 tons of different pipes and tubes were shipped to consumers in December 2005 (17% more than one year before), with 167,000 tons of steel (3.8% growth) produced over the same period, this including 35,500 tons of ingot blanks

According to the decision of Sverdlovsk Region Government, over the half (51%) of the shares of the assessed capital belonging to Sverdlovskiy Kombinat Khleboproductov JSC, local bread maker, is now going to be managed by the regional Food Market Development Agency Public Unitary Enterprise. This agency also manages another seven bits of share holding belonging to other grain-producers and bread makers.

Sukholozhskiy Ogneuporniy Zavod JSC (Refractory goods plant) summed up its production success for the year 2005. According to the company’s spokesperson, the increase in fiber insulation materials output came up to 1.5% (compared to 2004), with the corresponding figures for unshaped refractions being 32%. There appears to be a decrease of 10.3% in the molded refractions output due to a greater demand for unshaped refractions and fiber insulation materials and the more advanced technological strategies used in their production. The company also experienced the output increase of 29% in current

According to the spokesperson of Sverdlovsknefteproduct JSC, the official dealer of Sibneft JSC (Siberian supplier) in Sverdlovsk Region, the company managed to keep the mineral oil prices at their filling stations stable throughout the year 2005. ‘We believe this is due to a moratorium declared by some oil companies,’ the spokesperson reports. Retail petrol prices have also remained almost the same since September 19 when a number of major Russian oil companies such as LUKOIL, TNK-BP, Rosneft, Tatneft and Surgutneftgaz decided not to let the prices at the filling stations go up, regardless

Rosnedra, the Federal District Subsoil Resources Agency, announced an auction on January 31, 2006. Bids are to be made by those willing to do a geological research and deal in gold mining on Khioninskiy patch located in the town of Kushva. The auction was postponed from December 22. 2005 due to the failure of the applicants to place a deposit with their applications. As the spokesperson for Uralnedra, Ural Federal District Subsoil Resources Agency, said to the agency’s representative, four applications were regarded as valid but the applicants didn’t place the required deposits. Consequently,

‘We are hoping to increase the company’s authorized capital to 200 million RUR, Director of Sverdlovsk Mortgage Lending Agency plc Alexander Komarov announced at the press conference. ‘This is a settled and undoubtedly promising idea; reaching the point of 200 million RUR (as opposed to current 100 million) is significant in itself, yet it is also part of a whole strategy which includes enlarging the capital to the point of one billion RUR by 2010; all this will be carried within the framework of Sverdlovsk Region Comfortable and Accessible Housing program,’ Mr Komarov said.

On average, electricity tariffs will go up by 46% in 2006 without any dramatic rocketing that would be keenly felt by end-users, the spokesperson for Sverdlovenergo plc, local electricity supplier, says. Give or take a few rubles, the company’s services are going to cost 329.66 RUR per megawatt-hour in 2006, which is 46% more than this year’s tariff (226.16 RUR per megawatt-hour). The main cause of the tariff growth is having to pay Federal United Power System plc (FSKEES) for transmitting electric power via united national network with tension over 110 kilowatt. The share of FSKEES plc is