The Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine has updated indirect housing construction cost indicators by region for the first time since the war, the ministry’s press service said, citing Deputy Minister Natalia Kozlovskaya.
The corresponding order Minregion signed on November 17, 2022.
Previously, since February 24, 2022, due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation, state statistics agencies suspended publication of statistical information needed to calculate the indirect cost of construction.
Given the importance and the need to address this issue, according to Kozlovska, the Ministry of Regional Development initiated a change in the procedure for determining and applying the indirect cost of housing construction by regions of Ukraine, which allowed to restore the process.
“During martial law to calculate the indirect cost of construction, the indicators calculated as of January 1, 2022, adjusted for the consumer price index provided by the State Statistics Committee,” – explained the deputy minister.
The updated figures are calculated as of October 1, 2022 and are published on the website of the Ministry.
The indirect indicators of housing construction costs by regions are used to determine the amount of public investment directed to the construction of housing for citizens in need of better housing conditions and state support in accordance with legislative acts of Ukraine, to determine the share of public investment in the construction of such housing and the amount of soft loans granted to certain categories of citizens to address housing issues.
Mining company Rio Tinto PLC plans to create another, larger, plant to process iron ore for subsequent steel smelting, operating on raw biomass instead of coking coal.
The decision was made after the success of the first pilot project implemented in Germany, writes MarketWatch. The project has been running for the past 18 months in conjunction with Finland’s Metso Outotec and the University of Nottingham.
“The results of the first test phase are very promising,” said Rio Tinto Chief Commercial Officer Alf Barrios.
The location of the new plant has not yet been selected.
The steel industry accounts for 8 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, MarketWatch noted. Creating yellow ore processing plants using biomass instead of coal would help Rio Tinto’s plans to reduce emissions.
Switzerland on Wednesday approved the eighth package of sanctions against Russia, which includes the introduction of a “ceiling” on Russian oil prices.
“The Swiss Federal Council adopted another set of sanctions against Russia on November 23. The council approved the measures adopted by the European Union as part of the eighth sanctions package,” the document published on the Federal Council’s website reads.
“The sanctions include a legal basis for imposing a ‘ceiling’ on prices of Russian oil and oil products, as well as restrictions on iron and steel goods, aerospace products and goods of economic importance to Russia,” the statement stressed.
It is specified that the sanctions will take effect at 18:00 Wednesday local time (19:00 KSC).
The new measures also include a ban on the provision of IT, engineering, architectural and legal services to the Russian authorities and companies. In addition, a ban is introduced for citizens of Switzerland to occupy managerial positions in some companies owned by Russia.
The document notes that on October 12, the Swiss authorities added 30 more individuals and entities to the sanctions list for Russia.
The EU adopted the eighth package of sanctions with similar measures on October 6 in response to Russia’s escalation of military aggression against Ukraine.
Mass power outages have begun in Moldova due to damage to the Ukrainian energy system, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spynu said.
“Today we have a repeat of the situation of November 15. After the damage to the Ukrainian energy system in the last hour, we have mass power outages across the country. Moldelectrica is working to restore electricity connections,” Spynu wrote Wednesday on social media.
Water supplies were suspended Wednesday throughout Kiev due to Russian shelling, the capital’s mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.
“Due to the shelling, water supplies have been suspended throughout Kiev. Specialists “Kievvodokanal” are working to restore it as quickly as possible, “- he wrote in his Telegram channel.
At the same time, the mayor urged residents of Kiev to stock up on water just in case.
“Specialists are doing everything possible to return water to the homes of residents of Kiev. They are also working to resume power supply in the capital,” Klitschko added.
The Pivdenno-Ukrainian and Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plants have been disconnected from the energy system due to missile attacks on the power facilities by the Russian occupants.
“Pivdenno-Ukrainian NPP – Emergency shutdown of power units,” MP Alexei Goncharenko said in his Telegram channel on Wednesday.
“Stopping the units. There is no electricity, water, possibly heat,” wrote the mayor of Netishin, a satellite town of the Khmelnytsky NPP, Alexander Suprunyuk in his Facebook.
As reported, the NEC “Ukrenergo” confirmed the missiles hit a number of power facilities on Wednesday and the emergency blackouts across Ukraine.
