Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel and Governor of Chukotka Roman Abramovich visited Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group) on April 12, 2007.

Mr. Abramovich arrived in Yekaterinburg at the personal invitation of Mr. Rossel. The two governors met at the official residence of Governor of Sverdlovsk Region, went to the local Cathedral-on-Blood and then to Uralochka (a sports palace) and relocated to Nizhniy Tagil afterwards.

In the course of their visit to Metallurgical Industrial Complex, CEO Alexei Kushnarev told them about the ongoing reconstruction projects; last fall, for example, a blast furnace and a coking plant with improved capacity were re-launched. These renovations help the company cut production costs, raise product profitability, and make Ural steel competitive on both domestic and foreign markets.

The coking plant was closed down in July 2005 since it was the oldest of the six plants the company owned and failed to meet either current production standards or environmental requirements. After it underwent modernization, however, the plant become very efficient money-wise as well as environmentally friendly; the quality of coke was much improved into the bargain.

As regards the renewed blast furnace with its current capacity of 1.7 million tons a year, it took over 5,000 people (both Russian contractors and well-reputed foreign firms) to work on the new casthouses and cooling and loading mechanisms. Most importantly, workers are now operating in a much better environment, and no harm is done to nature, which is crucial to Nizhniy Tagil’s imperfect air. The city council says that, thanks to the reconstruction of the company, Nizhniy Tagil was officially removed from the list of Russia’s environmentally challenging cities.

After taking a look at the premises, Mr. Rossel and Mr. Abramovich discussed the developmental prospects of Evraz Group enterprises in Sverdlovsk Region, says the Governor’s spokesperson.