OREANDA-NEWS. March 15, 2010. Uralkali’s Board of Directors decided to allocate an additional one billion roubles to compensate Russian Railways for the costs it incurred in the construction of a 53-kilometer Yayva-Solikamsk railroad bypass. The additional compensation is being paid on a voluntary basis and in line with Uralkali’s social responsibility efforts. The decision is made following the arrangements made in the course of the talks with Russian Railways.

In March 2009, Uralkali voluntarily offered to pay 5 billion roubles to bridge the financing gap for the bypass construction and paid this amount to the federal budget before the end of 2009. The Yayva-Solikamsk railroad bypass was commissioned in December 2009 and opened for passenger transportation in January 2010. At present, the construction of flyovers for the bypass is underway. This work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010.

In late December 2009, the successful completion of the railroad bypass was reported by Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin and Russian Minister of Natural Resources Yuri Trutnev to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who expressed his appreciation for the efforts made by the parties involved in the project. Russian Railways stated at that time that an additional amount of 3 billion roubles was required to finance the construction project.

Uralkali considers the construction of the Yayva-Solikamsk bypass to be an important transportation project not only for the Perm Territory but also for several large companies operating throughout Russia. The bypass covers the areas of the Verkhnekamskoye potash and magnesium salt deposit where ore is mined or will be mined in the future. This bypass will help to eliminate the risk posed by the technically difficult subterranean mining processes to all passenger and cargo transportation by all the organisations which operate in the Berezniki-Solikamsk industrial hub area. Understanding how important this project is, Uralkali decided to provide additional funds to complete it. Therefore, the company's total allocations to pay the expenses incurred by Russian Railways to finance the construction of the Yayva-Solikamsk bypass will be 6 billion roubles.