‘At the end of 2009, there were eighty-nine developers in Sverdlovsk Region working on 154 projects with the total area of 1.3 million sq m. About 7,140 participatory share construction agreements worth about 43 billion RUR were signed. This is a lot of money that we can be proud of. However, there also exist a lot of private participatory share investors who have been deceived by their developers,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin said at a meeting in Yekaterinburg.

‘Unfortunately, these people don’t always get enough attention to their problem, even though the authorities pretend to be dealing with it. The municipal council, the public prosecution authorities, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs confirm the fact of deception in their documents, and papers just seem to go round a vicious circle. Federal Act 214 defines the clear rules of the game, but the situation has not been resolved yet,’ he added.

‘Sixty-six builders are currently experiencing problems with their projects, sixteen of which have already been halted. This means over 10 million RUR worth of housing construction agreements have been frozen. Our task is to stop hiding and design a mechanism and methods of problem prevention so as not to face such difficulties in the future,’ Misharin said.

‘As for the heads of construction companies who have already been sent to prison for fraud, these people must realize that they will still have to meet their contractual obligations. This will actually affect the duration of their term,’ the Governor observed.