Authorities of Sverdlovsk Region decided to put up serious barriers for drug traffic from Asia. American jet Dreamliner participated in test flights last week. Parts of this new craft were produced in the Urals. GLONASS system is considered for equipping Chelyabinsk public transport. Learn more in the weekly overview of events by UralPolit.Ru.
Authorities of Sverdlovsk Region decided to put up serious barriers for drug traffic from Asia. American jet Dreamliner participated in test flights last week. Parts of this new craft were produced in the Urals. GLONASS system is considered for equipping Chelyabinsk public transport. Learn more in the weekly overview of events by UralPolit.Ru.
Sverdlovsk Region
Enterprises of the region are not able to eliminate back pay by the end of 2009 despite of the agreements achieved by the regional government. Total amount of wages debts currently account for 44 million rubles. Sverdlovsk Region might soon cease to be the gate for Asian drugs. At least this is what the federal agency of drug control hopes for. Learn details in the weekly overview of events by UralPolit.Ru.
Back pay results in criminal proceedings
Back pay of Sverdlovsk Region enterprises has accumulated up to 44 million rubles. The government had agreements with all indebted companies to eliminate back pay by the end of 2009, chairman of the regional government Anatoly Gredin recalls. The biggest debtor in wages is the local factory “Automobiles and Motors of the Urals”, which owes 33 million rubles to its employees.
Criminal cases have already been opened against 12 top-managers of Ekaterinburg’s companies following article 145.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia (non-payment of wages). Accusative court decrees have been drawn in four cases.
Drug traffic from Middle Asia
Head of the Federal Agency for Drug Control Viktor Ivanov opened Center for Drug Traffic from Middle Asia Analysis in Ekaterinburg last week. The hope is “to block off the drug path coming from southern countries to Ural Regions”.
Head of the federal agency held a meeting on the regional security and reported that for the past ten year heroin inflow pressure increased by 10 times, inflow of hashish increased by 15 times. The price of heroin is the cheapest in the Urals, 1800 rubles per gram, which is 2 times less than in other regions of Russia.
New senator
Council of the Federation of Russia voted for Eduard Rossel to become a new senator from Sverdlovsk Region. Ex-governor has immediately been commissioned with new powers and took up his duties in the new position.
Night clubs closed
Prosecutor service of Sverdlovsk Region together with the professionals from EMERCOM check out 497 night clubs locations. 3508 violations of fire safety regulations have been disclosed. The most popular and largest night clubs of Ekaterinburg are on the verge of closure. The list includes such clubs as Glukhoman, Teleclub, Podval, Eldorado and others.
Test flight of Dreamliner
Specialists from Boeing conducted the first test flight of 787 Dreamliner which lasted 3 hours. Some of the parts of this new passenger air craft are produced in the Urals. Mechanical finishing of titanium forgings has been fulfilled by a Russian-American joint enterprise Ural Boeing Manufacturing (UBM). This facility was opened in Verkhnyaya Salda by Boeing and VSMPO-Avisma in summer 2009.
Chelyabinsk Region
Aircraft investigation
Law enforcement agencies of the region voiced out preliminary reasons of an air crash that happened on December 13, 2009. Private airplane crashed during a training flight for parachute jumpers. Two main reasons considered by investigation are pilot’s mistake and technical failure. Regional minister of ecological and radiation safety added one more possible cause to this list. The airplane might have lost control due to considerable difference of temperature of air layers at height over 150 meters.
Transport reform
Mayor of Chelyabinsk Mikhail Yurevich declared control over private passenger transport in the city will be given to the Department of Economics. Control should be tighter since too many violations have recently been registered in this industry. The mayor also expressed an idea that public transport might be equipped with GLONASS navigation system in the future.
Ski resort
Sun Valley (Solnechnaya Dolina) Ski Resort will receive 100 million euro. This mountain ski center is located in the Southern Ural Mountains, Chelyabinsk Region. The news was delivered by the regional ministry of economic development at the 9th Ural Investment Forum.
Construction of ski routes and hotel, development of the local infrastructure are targets for primary investments. New chairlifts will serve 12 thousand people a day, thus increasing the resort’s capacity by 4 times.
Capital investments will be sought for from foreign partners through European banks credit lines. Return of investments will be achieved within 7 years.
Ural delegation
Delegation of state officials from Chelyabinsk Region headed by governor Pyotr Sumin visited Belarus. President of the Republic Alexander Lukoshenko and Pyotr Sumin signed Protocol for mutual cooperation in 2010-2011. Industrial cooperation and production of highly technological goods are among priorities for two regions.
Tyumen Region
Ural Industrial – Ural Polar
Minister of Natural Resources Yury Trutnev signed an order approving the complex plan of mineral raw materials base development for the governmental corporation “Ural Industrial – Ural Polar” for 2010-2015. The plan’s objective is to build a base of ferrous, non-ferrous and precious metals, non-metals and energy coal on the territory of the Northern, Subpolar and Polar Urals. This raw materials base will provide for work of the industrial complex of the region. 4.7 billion rubles will be allocated for this purpose. The money will come from the federal budget, subjects of the Russian Federation and non-budget resources.
Khanty-Mansiisk Autonomous District
Yugra’s rating
International rating agency Moody’s Investors Service has given credit rating to Yugra for the first time. Credit ratings have been given in local and foreign currencies and make Baa3 on the global scale. Therefore Yugra’s credibility has been highly rated making this region one of the leaders in Russia alongside with Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Boxing tournament
Khanty-Mansiisk sports center hosted Boxing World Cup among oil-producing countries. Governor of Yugra Alexander Filipenko welcomed boxers from 12 countries at the opening ceremony. Russia’s team includes Aleksey Toschenko, two times Olympic winner.
Kurgan Region
GAZ Group
Kurgan’s Bus Plant KAVZ, affiliated company of GAZ Group, remains in focus. Vice-governor of the region officially declared that KAVZ is likely to be put on halt, since GAZ Group plans to place all perspective bus production orders at another of its bus division companies – Pavlovsk Bus Plant PAZ, located in Nizhny Novgorod Region.
However, administration of GAZ Group refutes. There are no plans to shut down production in Kurgan Region. The plan to lay off 234 workers is conditioned by the necessity to keep the facility at work. The factory will work in the red in 2010 and there will be inevitable risk of wages non-payment, assistant CEO of GAZ Group Elena Matveeva explained.
Budget
Kurgan City Duma adopted the draft budget for 2010 in the second reading on December 16, 2009. Budget earnings are estimated at 3.25 billion rubles plus additional earnings of 2.45 billions. This is a non-deficit draft.
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District
Oil production beyond plan
Gazpromneft in Noyabrsk produced 8.23 million tons of oil per-term. This was the plan to fulfill by the end of 2009. During the rest two weeks of this year the company plans to produce 300 thousand tons of oil additionally.
Social partnership
Employers, labor unions and state officials signed a trilateral agreement on regulation of social and working relations in the Autonomous District. It will come into effect on January 1, 2010 and will be valid for 3 years. The document was signed by Nikolai Parkhomchuk, the district’s labor unions chairman, Igor Nak, head of NPO “Union of Employers of Yamalo-Nenets AD” and vice-governor of the District Alexander Kim.
Wood-cutting
Pipeline construction company from Purpe, a location on Yamal, will pay the fine of 23 million rubles for damaging natural environment. Prosecutor’s check-up found out that the company had cut down 122 hectares of wood in 2007 while it had no permits for such a massive wood-cutting.