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Deripaska, St. Petersburg Sign $20 Billion Investment Accord

Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and partners including Hochtief AG agreed to invest $20 billion in St. Petersburg, President Vladimir Putin’s hometown, amid a government push to upgrade Soviet-era infrastructure.Deripaska signed the accord with St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko in Russia’s second-biggest city today, said Sergei Rybak, spokesman for Deripaska’s Basic Element holding company. Builders Strabag SE of Austria and France’s Bouygues SA are also involved in the project, Rybak said by phone.

Russia, which stretches across 11 time zones, is using some of the more-than $500 billion the government has accumulated since Putin came to power in 2000 to rebuild crumbling roads, buildings, tunnels and other infrastructure.

“There’s a lot of opportunity and we’re on the cutting edge,” said L.J. Mahon, head of Basic Element’s infrastructure division. The projects include building 5.5 million square meters of new housing, a 67-kilometer express train between downtown and Pulkovo Airport, new roads and underground parking, Mahon said.

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