Under construction and planned megaprojects. Big and expensive things that will amaze the world

Gone are the days when projects worth millions were impressed. Even hundreds of millions of people don't move anymore. Today, this requires billions, and the cost of the largest projects reaches hundreds of billions. Inflation is to some extent responsible for this, but it is not the most important reason for these huge numbers. The greatest projects and plans of the XNUMXth century are simply gigantic in scope.

A traditional area for megaprojects is visions of large bridges and tunnels. A lot of impressive buildings of this type have been built and are being built in the world, as the Young Technician wrote about many times. Fantasies, however, are still not satisfied. They draw projects no longer “mega”, but even “giga”. One such view is, for example, bridge across the Bering Strait (1), i.e. road links between North America and Asia, slightly less but still ambitious bridge to bypass the Isthmus of Darien between North and South America, which is currently not traversable by any vehicle and must be moved by sea, bridge and tunnel between Gibraltar and Africa, a tunnel connecting Sweden and Finland without having to use a ferry or bypassing the Gulf of Bothnia, tunnels connecting Japan and Korea, China to Taiwan, Egypt to Saudi Arabia under the Red Sea, and the Sakhalin-Hokkaido Tunnel connecting Japan to Russia.

These are projects that can be classified as giga. At the moment they are mostly fantasy. Smaller scales, i.e. artificial archipelago built in Azerbaijan, a huge Turkish restoration project in Istanbul and the construction of a new mosque in Mecca Masjid al-Haram in Saudi Arabia exceed one hundred billion dollars. Despite many problems with the implementation of these bold ideas list of megaprojects rather, it will get longer and longer. There are many different reasons why they are accepted.

One of them is metropolitan growth. As people move from rural areas to cities and population centers grow, the need for large-scale investment in infrastructure grows. They should deal with transport and communications, water management, sewerage, energy supply. The needs of the population concentrated in cities significantly exceed the needs of the population dispersed in rural areas. It is not only about basic needs, but also about aspirations, symbols of a big city. There is a growing desire to stand out and impress the rest of the world. Megaprojects they become a source of national pride and a status symbol for developing economies. Basically, here is fertile ground for great enterprises.

Of course, there is also a group of somewhat more rational economic motives. Big projects mean a lot of new jobs. Addressing the problems of unemployment and isolation of many people is critical todeveloping refuges. Major investments in tunnels, bridges, dams, highways, airports, hospitals, skyscrapers, wind farms, offshore oil rigs, aluminum smelters, communications systems, the Olympic Games, air and space missions, particle accelerators, brand new cities, and many other projects. fuel the entire economy.

Thus, 2021 is a year of continuation of a series of major investments such as the London Crossrail project, a massive upgrade of the existing metro system, the largest construction project ever undertaken in Europe, the LNG expansion in Qatar, the largest LNG project in the world with a capacity of 32 million tons per year, as well as the launch of a number of major projects, such as the construction in 2021 of the world's largest seawater desalination plant in the city of Agadir, Morocco.

Attract attention

According to an Indian-American global strategist, Paraga Khanna, we are becoming a globally connected civilizationbecause that's what we build. “We are living off infrastructure resources designed for a population of three billion as our population approaches nine billion,” Hanna says in an interview. “Essentially, we have to spend about one trillion dollars on basic infrastructure for every billion people on the planet.”

It is estimated that as all the megaprojects currently planned and initiated progress, we are likely to spend more on infrastructure in the next 40 years than in the last 4 years.

Examples of bold visions are easy to find. Megaprojects such as Grand Canal Nicaragua, Tokyo-Osaka Magnetic Railway in Japan, International Experimental fusion reactor [ITER] in France, the tallest building in the world in Azerbaijan, the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor in India, and King Abdullah City in Saudi Arabia. Another question - when and in what cases - will these visions come true at all. However, usually the mere announcement of a megaproject has a significant propaganda effect and a tangible economic effect arising from the increased interest in the concentration of media attention around the city, region and state.

Hoping to attract attention, probably India began many years ago building the tallest statue in the world, a 182-meter statue of Sardar Patel, who was the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of independent India. By comparison, the statue of Chief Crazy Horse in South Dakota, which has been under construction for decades, should be just over 170 meters long. Both of these buildings are known in the world and are mentioned in numerous publications. So sometimes a large statue is enough, and it is not necessary to finish it.

Według Bent Flivbjerg, professor of management at the University of Oxford, the share of the economy involved in megaprojects is currently 8% of the world's gross domestic product. Despite the fact that a lot megaprojects exceeds cost, and most of them are taking much longer to build than planned, they are a key part of today's global economy.

Flivbjerg also noted that project managers tend to overestimate expected benefits, underestimate costs, and exaggerate future social and economic benefits. However, even when things go wrong, people usually don't care. They don't care about miscalculated cost-benefit claims, wasted money, or the political infighting required to get the green light. They just want something meaningful to happen in their community or region, something that gets the world's attention.

However, empty megalomania in this area is becoming less and less. Historically megaprojectssuch as the pyramids in Egypt and the Great Wall of China have been enduring testimonies of human achievement, mainly because of the incredible amount of human labor that went into their creation. Today it is more than just the size, money and importance of the project. Megaprojects increasingly have a real economic dimension. If the world increases overall spending on infrastructure to $9 trillion a year, as suggested by Parag Khanna mentioned above, the importance of megaprojects to the economy will increase from the current 8%. world GDP to almost 24%, taking into account all the side effects. Thus, the implementation of great ideas can account for almost a quarter of the world economy.

It is possible to add other, besides political and social, non-economic benefits from the implementation of megaprojects. This is a whole field of technological inspirations that arise from innovation, rationalization, etc. For engineers in projects of this type, there is room for boasting, creatively pushing the boundaries of technical capabilities and know-how. It should not be forgotten that many of these great efforts lead to the creation of beautiful things, the enduring heritage of human material culture.

Fantasy from ocean depths to deep space

In addition to large bridges, tunnels, high-rise buildings, building complexes that grow to the scale of entire new cities, the media circulate today futuristic designwhich do not have a defined scope. They are based on a specific technical concept such as numerous railway construction projects in Hyperloop vacuum tunnelsthis is usually thought of in the context of passenger transport. They inspire new ideas such as a worldwide network for the transmission and distribution of mail, parcels and parcels. Pneumatic postal systems were already known in the XNUMXth century. What if, in the era of e-commerce development, to create a transport infrastructure for the whole world?

2. Vision of a space elevator

Are located political views. Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced the project almost a decade ago. Silk Road, which should redefine China's trade routes with the countries of Eurasia, where about half of the world's population lives. The old silk road was built during Roman times between China and Western countries. This new project is considered one of the largest infrastructure projects with an estimated cost of $900 billion. However, there is no one specific project that could be called the New Silk Road. It is rather a whole complex of investments leading in different ways. Therefore, it is considered more of a political plan than a well-defined infrastructure project.

There are some general aspirations and directions, not specific projects the most futuristic space visions. Space megaprojects remain in the area of ​​discussion, not implementation. These include, for example, space resorts, mining on asteroids, orbital power plants, orbital lifts (2), interplanetary expeditions, etc. It is difficult to talk about these projects as something realizable. Rather, within the framework of various scientific studies, there are results that create potential conditions for the realization of these on-duty visions. For example, recent revelations about the successful transfer of energy from orbiting solar arrays to Earth.

3. The concept of a floating self-sufficient floating residential structure from Zaha Hadid Architects.

In the field of attractive, but so far only visualizations various water visions (3) and under water, floating islands – tourist resorts, floating farms for terrestrial plants and ocean aquaculture, i.e. cultivation of underwater marine plants and animals, sailing or underwater residential complexes, cities and even entire countries.

In the field of futurism, there is also megaclimate and weather projectsfor example, control of extreme weather events such as tornadoes and hurricanes, hail and sandstorms, and earthquake management. Instead, we are undertaking massive projects to “manage” desertification, as exemplified by the Great Green Wall in sub-Saharan Africa (4). This is a project that has been around for many years. With what effects?

4. Great Green Wall Project in Africa

Eleven countries threatened by the expansion of the Sahara - Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Senegal have agreed to plant trees to stop the loss of arable land.

In 2007, the African Union put forward a proposal to create a barrier almost seven thousand kilometers across the continent. This project was supposed to create over 350 jobs. jobs and save 18 million hectares of land. However, progress has been slow. By year 2020, the countries of the Sahel had completed only 4 percent. project. This is best in Ethiopia, where 5,5 billion seedlings have been planted. Only 16,6 million plants and seedlings were planted in Burkina Faso, while only 1,1 million were planted in Chad. To make matters worse, up to 80 percent of the trees planted probably died.

In addition to the fact that the countries participating in this megaproject are poor and often mired in armed conflicts, this example shows how misleading ideas about global climate and environmental engineering projects are. One scale and a simple idea is not enough, because the environment and nature are very complex and difficult to manage systems. That is why, in the face of enthusiastically developed environmental mega-projects, it should be restrained.

Skyscraper Brake Race

It is usually considered that the most modern megaprojects, already built or planned and under construction, is located in Asia, the Middle East or the Far East. There is some truth in this, but bold visions are being born elsewhere. Example - idea to build crystal island, a huge mega-structure with the character of a tall and sprawling tower with a total area of ​​2 m² in Moscow (500). With a height of 000 m, it will be one of the tallest buildings in the world. It's not just a skyscraper. The project is conceived as an independent city within a city, with museums, theaters and cinemas. It is assumed that this is the living, crystal heart of Moscow.

5. Vision of Crystal Island in Moscow

There may be a Russian project. Maybe not. The example of Saudi Arabia, ultimately the world's more than a kilometer tall building formerly known as the Kingdom Tower, shows that it can be different, even if construction has already begun. For now, Arab investment in the world's tallest skyscraper has been put on hold. According to the project, the skyscraper was to exceed 1 km and have a usable area of ​​243 m². The main purpose of the building was to be a Four Seasons hotel. Office space and luxury condominiums were also planned. The tower was also supposed to house the highest (terrestrial) astronomical observatory.

It has the status of one of the most impressive, but still under construction projects. Falcon City of Wonders In Dubai. An interesting fact is that the 12 m² business and entertainment complex will feature seven more wonders of the world, including The Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, pyramids, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the great Wall of China (6). In addition, there will be shopping malls, a theme park, family centers, sports facilities, educational institutions, and more than 5 residential units varying in design, location, and size.

6. Accumulation of wonders of the world in the Falcon City of Wonders project in Dubai

From the moment of construction Burj KhalifaDespite the loud announcements, the high-altitude race has slowed down a bit. Buildings commissioned in recent years, even in China, which is now a skyscraper at the center of the world, are somewhat lower. for example, the recently commissioned Shanghai Tower, which is the tallest skyscraper not only in Shanghai, but in all of China, has a height of 632 meters and a total area of ​​380 m². In the old capital of high-rise buildings, New York, seven years ago, the 000st World Trade Center (formerly Freedom Tower) was erected at a height of 1 meters on the site of the World Trade Center destroyed in 541. And nothing higher has yet been built in the USA.

Gigantomania from one end of the world to another

They dominate the lists of megaprojects in terms of the money spent on them. Infrastructure projects. It is considered to be the largest building project in the world currently underway. Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai (7). After its completion, the airport will be able to simultaneously receive 200 wide-body aircraft. The cost of the second phase of the airport expansion alone is estimated at more than $32 billion. Construction was originally scheduled to be completed in 2018, however the final phase of the expansion has been delayed and there is no specific completion date.

7. Visualization of the giant Al Maktoum Airport in Dubai.

Built in neighboring Saudi Arabia. Jabail II industrial project launched in 2014. Upon completion, the project will include 800 cubic meters of desalination plant, at least 100 industrial plants, and an oil refinery with a production capacity of at least 350 cubic meters. barrels per day, as well as miles of railways, roads and highways. The entire project is expected to be completed in 2024.

Occurs in the same part of the world Recreation and entertainment complex Dubailand. The $64 billion project is located on a 278 km2 site and will consist of six parts: theme parks, sports facilities, ecotourism, medical facilities, science attractions and hotels. The complex will also include the world's largest hotel with 6,5 rooms and a shopping center covering almost a million square meters. Completion of the project is scheduled for 2025.

China is adding to its long list of architectural and infrastructure megaprojects the ongoing South-North Water Transfer Project (8), China. 50% of the population lives in northern China. of the country's population, but this population is served by only 20 percent. Water resources of China. To get water where it's needed, China is building three huge canals, nearly 48 kilometers long, to bring water north of the country's biggest rivers. The project is expected to be completed within 44,8 years and will supply XNUMX billion cubic meters of water every year.

8. Chinese North-South Project

It is also being built in China. giant airport. Once completed, Beijing International Airport is expected to surpass Dubai Al Maktoum International Airport, which is also yet to be built in terms of construction costs, floor space, passenger and aircraft numbers. The first phase of the project was completed in 2008, with further expansion planned for completion by 2025.

It seems that other Asian countries are jealous of such an impressive scale of the Arabian Peninsula and China and are also embarking on mega projects. The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor is certainly in this league, with over twenty industrial districts, eight smart cities, two airports, five energy projects, two rapid transit systems and two logistics hubs to be built. The first phase of the project, a freight corridor connecting India's two largest cities, has been delayed and may not be ready until 2030, with the final phase scheduled for completion in 2040.

The little one also took part in the competition in the category of big undertakings. Sri Lanka. Colombo will be built near the state capital. Seaport, a new financial center that rivals Hong Kong and Dubai. The construction, funded by Chinese investors and scheduled to be completed no earlier than 2041, could cost up to $15 billion.

On the other hand, Japan, which has long been famous for its high-speed railroads, is building a new Chuo Shinkansen Magnetic Railroadwhich will allow you to travel even faster. The train is expected to travel at speeds of up to 505 kilometers per hour and take travelers from Tokyo to Nagoya, or 286 kilometers, in 40 minutes. It is planned to complete the project by 2027. About 86 percent of the New Tokyo-Nagoya Line will run underground, requiring the construction of many new long tunnels.

The US, which, with its interstate highway system, ranks undisputedly at the top of the list of most expensive megaprojects, has not recently been known for such new megaprojects. However, it cannot be said that nothing is happening there. Construction of high-speed rail in California, which began in 2015 and is expected to be completed by 2033, should connect eight of California's ten largest cities, definitely in the league.

The construction will be carried out in two stages: the first stage will connect Los Angeles with San Francisco, and the second stage will extend the railroad to San Diego and Sacramento. The trains will be electric, which is not as common in the US, and will be powered entirely by renewable energy sources. Speeds should be similar to European high-speed railways, i.e. up to 300 km/h. The latest estimate is that California's new high-speed rail network will cost $80,3 billion. Travel time from Los Angeles to San Francisco will be reduced to two hours and 40 minutes.

It will also be built in the UK. Megaproject Koleiova. The HS2 project has been approved by the government. It will cost $125 billion. The first phase, due to be completed in 2028-2031, will connect London to Birmingham and will require the construction of about 200 km of new lines, many new stations and the modernization of existing stations.

In Africa, Libya has been implementing the Great Man Made River (GMR) project since 1985. In principle, it was the largest irrigation project in the world, irrigating more than 140 hectares of arable land and significantly increasing the availability of drinking water in most Libyan urban centers. The GMR receives its water from the Nubian Sandstone underground aquifer. The plan was for the project to be completed in 2030, but since fighting and conflict have been going on in Libya since 2011, the future of the project is unclear.

In Africa, others are also planned or under construction huge water projectswhich often cause controversy, and not only environmental ones. Construction of the Great Renaissance Dam on the Nile in Ethiopia began in 2011 and is today considered one of the most impressive mega projects in Africa. This hydroelectric plant is expected to generate around 2022 gigawatts of electricity when the project is completed in 6,45. The construction of the dam cost about $5 billion. The project's problems lie not only in insufficient compensation for displaced locals, but also in unrest on the Nile, in Egypt and Sudan, countries concerned that an Ethiopian dam threatens to disrupt water management.

Other controversial the great African hydro project, the Inga 3 Dam in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. If built, it would be the largest dam in Africa. However, it is strongly opposed by environmental organizations and representatives of the local population, who would have to be relocated to implement the project.

Preservation of old cities - construction of new cities

Interesting projects on a more local scale are taking place in many places around the world. However, these are often examples of extraordinary engineering and daring planning that generate worldwide interest. Examples structures protecting Venice from flooding. To counter this threat, work began in 2003 on MOSE, a massive $6,1 billion barrier system. The mega project, which was supposed to be launched in 2011, will not actually be completed until 2022.

On the other side of the world, Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, has the problems of gradually sinking into the sea, somewhat reminiscent of Venice. Like Venice, the city responds to this existential threat by building colossal ramparts. This complex, 35 kilometers long, is called Great Garuda (9) is expected to be completed by 2025 at a cost of $40 billion. However, experts disagree on whether this mega-project will be strong enough to save the Indonesian capital from the waters of the ocean…

9. Garuda Project in Jakarta

Great Garuda something like the new capital of Indonesia is supposed. Egypt also wants to build a new capital. Forty kilometers east of huge and crowded Cairo, a new clean city will be built by 2022 at a cost of $45 billion. Carefully planned and powered by solar power, it will impress with ultra-tall skyscrapers, Parisian-style apartment buildings, stunning green space twice the size of New York's Central Park, and a theme park four times the size of Disneyland. On the other side of the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia wants to build a new smart city powered entirely by renewable energy by 2025 through a project called Neom (10).

10. Planned major city NEOM on the Red Sea

Thermonuclear fusion and extreme telescope

From Fr.Valley-sized thundering satellite dishes, to polar bases at the edge of the Earth and the most advanced installations that help us get into space - this is how mega-science projects look like. Here is an overview of ongoing science projects that deserve to be called megaprojects.

Let's start with the California project National igniter, which houses the world's largest laser, is used to heat and compress hydrogen fuel, starting nuclear fusion reactions. Engineers and contractors built the facility on the surface of three football fields, excavating 160 55 cubic meters of earth and backfilling over 2700 cubic meters. cubic meters of concrete. Over ten years of work on this facility, more than XNUMX experiments have been carried out, thanks to which we have become closer energy efficient synthesis.

A $1,1 billion facility located at an altitude of more than three kilometers above sea level in Chile's Atacama Desert is currently under construction. Extremely large telescope, ELT(11) becomes largest optical telescopeas it has ever been built.

This device will produce images that are sixteen times sharper than these. The Extremely Large Telescope, operated by the European Southern Observatory, which already operates one of the world's largest astronomical objects at the nearby Very Large Telescope (VLT), will study exoplanets. This structure will be larger than the Roman Colosseum and will outshine all existing astronomical instruments on Earth. Its main mirror, made up of 798 smaller mirrors, will have an incredible diameter of 39 meters. Construction began in 2017 and is expected to take eight years. The first light is currently scheduled for 2025.

11 Extremely Large Telescope

It is also under construction in France. ITERor International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. This is a mega project involving 35 countries. The estimated cost of this project is approximately $20 billion. This should be a breakthrough in the creation of efficient thermonuclear energy sources.

The European Split Source (ESS), built in 2014 in Lund, Sweden, will be the most advanced research center in the field neutrons in the world when it is ready by 2025. His work has been compared to a microscope working on a subatomic scale. The results of research conducted at ESS should be available to all interested parties - the facility will become part of the European Open Science Cloud project.

It's hard not to mention the successor project here Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, called the Future Circular Collider, and the Chinese accelerator design Circular Electron Positron Collider is three times the size of the LHC. The first should be completed by 2036, and the second by 2030. However, these scientific megaprojects, unlike those described above (and already under construction), represent a rather vague prospect.

Megaprojects can be exchanged endlessly, because the list of dreams, plans, construction projects and already built objects, which, of course, often have practical functions, but above all impress, is constantly growing. And it will continue because the aspirations of countries, cities, businessmen and politicians never diminish.

The most expensive mega projects in the world of all time, both existing and not yet created

(Note: Costs are in current US$ prices)

• Channel Tunnel, UK and France. Adopted in 1994. Cost: $12,1 billion.

• Kansai International Airport, Japan. Adopted in 1994. Cost: $24 billion.

• Big Dig, road tunnel project under downtown Boston, USA. Adopted in 2007. Cost: $24,3 billion.

• Toei Oedo Line, the main line of the Tokyo Subway with 38 stations, Japan. Adopted in 2000. Cost: $27,8 billion.

• Hinckley Point C, NPP, UK. In developing. Cost: up to $29,4 billion.

• Hong Kong International Airport, China. Put into operation in 1998. Cost: $32 billion.

• Trans-Alaska pipeline system, USA. Adopted in 1977. Cost: $34,4 billion.

• Expansion of Dubai World Central Airport, United Arab Emirates. In developing. Cost: $36 billion

• Great Man-Made River Irrigation Project, Libya. Still under construction. Cost: over $36 billion.

• International Business District Smart City Songdo, South Korea. In developing. Cost: $39 billion

• Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed ​​Railway, China. Adopted in 2011 Cost: $40 billion

• Three Gorges Dam, China. Adopted in 2012 Cost: $42,2 billion

• Itaipu Dam, Brazil/Paraguay. Adopted in 1984. Cost: $49,1 billion.

• German transport projects combining rail, road and water networks under the common name Unity, Germany. Still under construction. Cost: $50 billion.

• Kashagan oil field, Kazakhstan. Put into operation in 2013. Cost: $50 billion.

• AVE high-speed rail network, Spain. Still expanding. Value by 2015: $51,6 billion

• Seattle City Rail Expansion Project, Sound Transit 3, USA. In preparation. Cost: $53,8 billion

• Dubailand theme park and entertainment complex, United Arab Emirates. In preparation. Cost: $64,3 billion.

• Honshu-Shikoku Bridge, Japan. Adopted in 1999. Cost: $75 billion.

• California High-Speed ​​Rail Network Project, USA. In preparation. Cost: $77 billion.

• South to North Water Transfer Project, China. In progress. Cost: $79 billion.

• Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project, India. In preparation. Cost: $100 billion.

• King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. In developing. Cost: $100 billion

• City on artificial islands Forest City, Malaysia. In preparation. Cost: $100 billion

• The Great Mosque of Mecca, Masjid al-Haram, Saudi Arabia. In progress. Cost: $100 billion.

• London-Leeds High Speed ​​Rail, High Speed ​​2, UK. In preparation. Cost: $128 billion.

• International Space Station, international project. Cost: $165 billion

• Project of the city of Neom on the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. In preparation. Cost: 230-500 billion dollars.

• Persian Gulf Railway, Gulf countries. In developing. Cost: $250 billion.

• Interstate Highway System, USA. Still expanding. Cost: $549 billion