MOSCOW, July 28 (RIA Novosti) - About 80% of construction projects in Russia are currently frozen due to the ongoing economic crisis, the president of the Russian Union of Developers said on Tuesday.
Vladimir Yakovlev told a news conference that the recession has severely affected the domestic construction industry, causing a slump in demand for housing, an increase in interest rates on loans for developers, and a virtual halt in the disbursement of mortgage loans to households.
Yakovlev said the volume of construction and assembly work declined 20% in January-June 2009, year-on-year, to 1.5 trillion rubles ($48 billion).
"This suggests a considerable reduction in the number of facilities under construction, while there are simply no new construction projects," he said.
Stalling construction projects have caused a decline in building materials industry, where output has fallen by 18-40%, Yakovlev said.
"This particularly applies to the major products used in construction. Output declined 71% in the cement industry and 59% in the brick industry," he said.
