‘On April 26, a meeting of Sverdlovsk Region Government Interdepartmental Migrant Workers Committee took place. The members of the committee discussed the issue of taxation when it comes to companies that used migrant labour in 2005,’ reports the Governor’s spokesperson. ‘A lot has been done to make sure the collection of 30% profit tax imposed on natural persons improves, thus, 55.7% more money reached the budget in the first three months of 2006. Yet tax evasion is still a major issue on the agenda. It’s been statistically proved that the offenders are the same firms every year. Besides,

‘Balandino airport has been operating as usual; we’ve had no delays or cancelled flights. We even managed to host a flight refused in Yekaterinburg,’ the employees of the Commercial Department said to UrBC representative. ‘Current weather, that is, sleet and rain, is not fatal to performing flights. The visibility is sufficient too.’ ‘According to the forecast, tomorrow’s weather will be good enough as well. We shouldn’t get any frosts, icing or fogs, so everything should go as usual.’ Meanwhile, about ten flights were delayed in neighboring Yekaterinburg between Tuesday and Wednesday.

SUAL Group summed up its success in the first quarter of 2006. Volumes of the main types of production output exceeded the corresponding figures for 2005. In particular, the Group increased its bauxite ore mining volume by 22.8%: it came to 1.41 million tons. The increase is mainly due to growing productivity of Sredne-Timansky bauxite mine that increased by 65.8% against the same figures for 2005. Alumina production output decreased by 5.2% compared to the figures for the first quarter of 2005 and came to 546,600 tons. The decrease is a result of a downswing at Pikalevsky alumina plant

Chelyabinsky Zinkovy Zavod JSC is ranked among the best employers of Russia. The honorary title ‘Employer of the year – 2005’ was awarded to the company based on the results of social investigation ‘Business Responsibility – Employer of the year – 2005’. The investigation was conducted by Rating Agency of Analytics on demand of interindustrial non-profit organization Coordinating Board of Employers’ Unions of Russia, Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and non-profit partnership National Loan Office. According to this investigation, Chelyabinsky Zinkovy Zavod JSC is distinguished among

Within the first quarter of 2006, the bauxite mines of Sevuralbauxitruda JSC (member of SUAL Group) increased their ore extraction output by over 1% against the same figures for 2005. ‘Within the first quarter of 2006, we have mined the scheduled volume of bauxite ore that exceeds the extraction volume for the first quarter of 2005 by over 1%. This was brought about by the increase in productivity of Novo-Kalyinskaya mine that was set into operation last year. At the same time, we have been gradually putting out of operation two of our older mines, where the bauxite ore is almost unstocked,’

Uralkhimplast JSC has recently held the annual shareholder meeting that resulted in the majority of the shareholders voting in favour of a merger with Uralskaya Khimicheskaya Kompaniya, Ural Chemical Company JSC. The two companies’ assets will be accumulated within one joint stock company and the shares of the former will be converted to the shares of the latter. The other points on the agenda concerned the annual and accounting reports as well as the P& L statement. The report states that the company raised its shipments by 8% in 2005 compared to 2004. The shipments of the company’s

Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Chelyabinsk started to assemble the medium-pressure boiler with production capacity of 220 tons of steam per hour, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. The new device is meant mainly for production needs; it should ensure an increase in electricity production by 90m kilowatts per hour and heat production by 100,000 gigacalories within a year. Its coefficient of efficiency is 92-94%. This modern boiler will be furbished with some special burners that will allow for maximal burning of coke and blast-furnace gases: 15,000 cubic meters of

The ongoing upgrading of production facilities, improvement of management strategies and efficient marketing policy have all led to a qualitative as well as quantitative positive changes in SUAL Group’s production indicators in the first quarter of 2006. Thus, the Group produced 21% more rolled metal and intermediate products in the first three months of 2006 than in the corresponding period of 2005. The output of foils and aluminium tape went down by 3.7% due to the company switching to finer and therefore more expensive foils. Also, the company produced 25.1% more of consumer goods.

In the course of yesterday’s meeting devoted to top-priority national projects Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin requested GD of South Ural Mortgage Lending Agency JSC Alexander Kondrashov to set up a subsidiary in Magnitogorsk. According to Mr Sumin, the Accessible and Comfortable Dwelling to Russian Citizens program is one of the most important issues today. Only one in ten people can improve his or her living conditions; this number will have tripled by 2010, but this is obviously not enough. One factor at fault is the housing shortage. Over 1.7m square meters of dwelling were put

During its regular meeting on April 25, 2006, Association of Chelyabinsk construction firms (APSO) came up with the decision to establish GLAVK non-profit partnership of construction firms. The founders are over 40 members of APSO, the Association PR-department reported to UrBC representative. The non-profit partnership is aimed at promoting the business activities of its members in the field of development of small and mid-sized construction firms located in Chelyabinsk Region as well as in other Russian Regions; consolidating of the partnership members and increasing competitive ability and

Ural Airlines will soon be closing down some of its subsidiaries in the countries of the NIS. Thus, the Board of Directors decided on April 21, 2006 to do away with the ones in Baku (Azerbaijan) and Yerevan (Armenia).

ZLATEX Ltd., a digger producer of Zlatoust, is going to start batch production of its new digger/bulldozer EO 2621 capable of axially adjustable digging, which makes the machine more compact and makes it possible to work near buildings. Part of the machine is constituted by the Italian hydraulically actuated valve. The device was initially demonstrated at the exhibition ‘Building machines and equipment 2006’ in Yekaterinburg. According to the company’s Marketing Department, it will be launched on May 1, 2006.

Territorial power generating company TGK-9 invested 1.14bn RUR in stations and heat networks in 2005. 2.13bn RUR were spent on overhauls and repairs, says the annual report drawn up by the company’s GD. Within the period of April to December 2005, the company made 26.09bn RUR of profits, the gross profit coming to 98m and net profit to 28m. Generating Company of Perm and Generating Company of Sverdlovsk Region, whose substations and heat networks are rented by TGK-9, made 2.1bn and 764m RUR of profits, respectively. The gross profit of the former came to 1.79bn, the net profit to 1.28bn; the

Last week, and exhibition called ‘China’s nuclear industry 2006’ was held in Beijing. Businesses dealing in nuclear power plant equipment found themselves greatly impressed by the Russian highly productive radioactive effluent recycling unit project. The project was designed by the developers of OMZ-Crane (part of OMZ-Uralmash division), reports the spokesperson for OMZ-Uralmash. Among the potential buyers were AREVA of France and Westinghouse of the USA, both involved in tenders for the supply of equipment to two Chinese power stations. Some negotiations have already taken place. The project

Federal Post Administration in Sverdlovsk Region made 247.5m RUR in profits in the first quarter of 2006 (which is 17% better than in the corresponding period of 2005), reports their spokesperson. The posting services and the office commercial activity yielded 20% and 25% more money than a year earlier, respectively. It was the post office network of Yekaterinburg that proved to be the most lucrative in the given period.

Sverdlovsk Region may witness the auctioneering or sale of unused industrial sites by federal state enterprises for the first time. Thus, according to Director of Machine-Building Department of Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Industry, Power Engineering and Science Alexander Makarov, N.A. Semikhatov Scientific Production Association of Yekaterinburg could give some of its industrial sites to its subdivisions. ‘They are now settling the issue of whether they should sell them (then there’s a question of to whose account the money is to be transferred) or go for a long-term rent followed by the

Sinara Group CJSC and Ural Railroad Machine Building Works are currently working on the project aimed at designing a hauler electric locomotive. As the project supervisor Evgeniy Kopein announced at today’s press conference, the joint investments into the DC electric locomotive with commutator motor and the hauler one will come to 5bn RUR, with 700m to be invested in 2006. The pilot version of the commutator electric is to be produced in December 2006; it will then be tested, examined, and launched. At the same time, the Works will have completed the engineering data and launched the second

Traktorozavodskoy technological park Ltd. has recently auctioneered its greenhouse system with an area of 10,000 square meters. The auction will take place on May 19, 2006.

Vanadium JSC, (ore mining and processing enterprise of Kachkanar, member of Evraz Group), completed the scheduled repairs of calcining plants No. 3 and No. 4 in its pellet shop on April 21, 2006. Repair works were carried in the working shop and kept in accordance with the schedule, PR-department of Evraz Group said. The calcining plant No. 3 had been repaired within 5 days. Specialists from both subdivisions of the company inspected its equipment and replaced some obsolete parts of the machine and its refractory masonry. They also carried out a complex operation of replacement of low-speed

Magnesite Group worked up and has been carrying out its own investments program aimed at modernization and development of its operating departments as well as distribution and engineering systems, its source of raw materials, and technological and managerial capacities. According to Magnesite Group PR-department, the holding is going to invest 6bn RUR in development of its subsidiaries under this program before 2010. The total volume of investments within 2006 is to come to 2bn RUR including 1.7 billion to be spent on development of Kombinat Magnesite JSC. Resolving problems of raw materials