Did you know that some of the world’s most expensive megaproject mistakes have turned into colossal failures, leaving behind a trail of wasted resources and broken dreams?
From cities built for millions that remain deserted to massive infrastructure projects that serve no purpose, today we’re taking a closer look at five of the most expensive megaprojects mistakes in the world. Get ready to be amazed, shocked, and maybe even a little bit angry.
Number 5: Interstate H-3,
Bing The World’s Most Expensive Megaproject Mistakes takes us to the stunning landscape of Hawaii, where Interstate H-3 stretches for 26 kilometers through some of the world’s most breathtaking scenery. But this highway is more than just a pretty drive. Its construction was motivated by defense considerations, linking the Pearl Harbor Naval Base to the Marine Corps Air Station on the east coast.
However, the project faced fierce opposition from environmental groups and native Hawaiians who were worried about the impact it would have on the local ecosystem and the prospect of urbanization. After years of delays and changes to the proposed route, construction finally began in 1989, 26 years after it was first proposed.
Despite its engineering marvel, the highway’s impact has been contentious. It has not only disrupted the local ecosystem but also caused significant financial strain. The final cost of the project ballooned to over $1 billion, almost twice the initial estimated cost.
Regardless of the controversy, the highway is a marvel of engineering, with high-tech tunnels and viaducts that protect the local environment while allowing motorists to enjoy the stunning scenery. Love it or hate it, the H-3 serves as a reminder of the challenges that come with megaprojects and their lasting impact on the communities they touch.
Despite its stunning scenic route and impressive engineering, the H-3 highway in Hawaii has been mired in controversy. Originally proposed for defense considerations, it has been criticized for being a “road to nowhere” due to its lack of direct access to downtown Honolulu.
The total cost of the project, which took over 37 years to complete, was a staggering 1.3 billion dollars which is about 50 million dollars per kilometre. The delays, route changes, and technological advancements that drove up the project’s cost have made the H-3 the most expensive highway per kilometer in the world.
However, the most troubling aspect of the H-3 highway is its impact on the Native Hawaiian community. Many cultural sites were destroyed during its construction, leading to the project being viewed as “cursed” by many in the community. As a result, a majority of Native Hawaiians refuse to use the H-3 to this day.
Despite being an engineering marvel, the controversy and negative impacts on the community have left the H-3 highway with a questionable legacy. It serves as a stark reminder that megaprojects can come with enormous costs, both in terms of finances and impact on the communities they touch.
Number 4: Ciudad Real Central Airport, Spain
On our list of the world’s most expensive megaproject mistakes – the Ciudad Real Central Airport in Spain.
The airport was conceived as an alternative to the overcrowded Madrid airport, with the potential to serve millions of passengers each year. But it turned out to be a classic example of a poorly planned and executed project.
The first problem was the location – while it was called the Central Airport, it was far from central, located 200 kilometers away from Madrid. Most passengers avoided travelling for hours to get to the remote location, and most major airlines preferred to operate from the capital. This led to a lack of demand and the airport was unable to attract any major airlines to operate from it.
Within the first year of opening in 2009, the airport was reduced to a single small airline. The airport’s inability to attract passengers led to a debt of $350 million by 2012. The company behind the project filed for bankruptcy, and the airport was put up for auction in 2013. After multiple failed auctions, the airport was finally sold to new owners in 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit the aviation industry hard, and the Ciudad Real Central Airport found a new purpose. With little hope of passengers returning soon, the new owners reinvented the airport as a storage facility for grounded planes, given its dry climate, long runway, and spaciousness.
By August 2020, there were 65 aeroplanes parked at the airport, with expansions underway to provide a storage facility for over 300 aircraft. This new storage approach gave the airport a much-needed business opportunity.
However, the fact remains that the airport remains useless for passengers around the world. While the airport has been repurposed for aircraft storage, it is not a sustainable solution in the long run. The stored planes will eventually be gone once the pandemic is over, and the return of normal flight operations remains elusive.
The Ciudad Real Central Airport in Spain is a billion-dollar megaproject that failed to live up to its potential and is a cautionary tale for poorly planned and The World’s Most Expensive Megaproject Mistakes projects.
Number 3: Naypyidaw, Myanmar
Naypyidaw, Myanmar is a unique capital city that is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. It is a city that was built from scratch and has been the subject of much curiosity and speculation since it was first established in 2005. The city is the brainchild of Myanmar’s former military leadership, who decided to build a new capital in secret in 2002.
The reasons for this sudden shift of the capital from Yangon to Naypyidaw remain unclear. Some speculated that the military leadership was fearful of an attack from the sea, while others thought it was shifted on the advice of astrologers. However, a lot of it had to do with Yangon, the former capital city.
Yangon is home to 7 million people, and it is said to have reached its infrastructural limits. Its population is set to double by 2050, making it an unsustainable city for Myanmar’s leaders. Additionally, Yangon was established as the capital during British rule to benefit the British Navy. So, it made sense for Myanmar to shift the capital to a more central location.
The World’s Most Expensive Megaproject Mistakes new project was built swiftly, and to this date, successive governments have poured 4 billion dollars into the city. Naypyidaw seemingly has everything to attract visitors: a 20-lane highway, over 100 luxury hotels divided into three hotel districts, golf courses, museums, and even a 99-meter-tall replica of a landmark originally situated in Yangon.
Despite all the amenities, the population of the city remains at less than a million residents, most of whom reside in the suburbs that were present even before the city became the capital. The new capital is like a “ghost town,” and the incredible 20-lane highway is practically empty.
Traffic congestion is unheard of, and at times a single automobile is caught drifting along the tremendous road. The city has an airport that can handle 3.5 million passengers every year, but on a busy day, only a dozen people will actually use it. The shopping malls are visited only by the diplomatic staff on weekends, while the hotel lobbies are mostly empty.
The issue with Naypyidaw lies in the fact that it was built without any real planning or consideration for the people who would be living there. It was constructed without any regard for the local population, who are mostly farmers and laborers.
The city is also quite far from any major population centers, and this isolation has made it unattractive to people who are seeking economic opportunities. Most of the residents of Naypyidaw are government employees who have been relocated to the new capital.
Naypyidaw was built with grandiose plans for the future, but without a well-thought-out plan for how to attract people to live there. The city has no real identity of its own, and it seems to be trying to mimic other major cities in the world without understanding what makes those cities successful.
The buildings and infrastructure may be impressive, but they do not create a sense of community or belonging, which is essential for any city to thrive bing the World’s Most Expensive Megaproject Mistakes.
Additionally, the new capital has created a huge financial burden on the country. Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the amount of money spent on the construction of the new capital could have been better used to improve the lives of its citizens. The people of Myanmar have been neglected, and the government has focused on creating an empty monument to their own power and prestige.
In conclusion, Naypyidaw, Myanmar, is an example of a megaproject that went wrong. The city is a testament to the failure of grandiose plans and the importance of considering the needs of the people when undertaking large-scale projects. The government’s lack of foresight and planning has resulted in a city
Number 2: Forest City, Malaysia
Forest City is a future, green, smart city idea that promises to grow from reclaimed ground on four artificial islands constructed around an artificial forest environment. Its closeness to Singapore, which boasts the second-busiest port in the world and a strong economy, makes the city an attractive option for investors seeking to benefit from its proximity.
The second link bridge has already connected Forest City to Singapore, reducing the trip between the two cities to only 20 minutes. In addition, the city will have its own customs facility, allowing people to freely travel to and from Singapore. The design features several eco-friendly technologies, including buildings with green roofs and vertical gardens, to create a jungle-like atmosphere.
The city’s streets will have a multilayered design, with the lowest layer for traffic and parking, and the higher layer for parks, sports facilities, and transportation hubs. Completed by 2035 at a cost of $100 billion, Forest City will be totally powered by renewable energy. On one of the four intended islands, 50 residential structures, golf courses, swimming pools, and beaches have already been constructed.
Unfortunately, a number of economic and political obstacles have impeded Forest City’s development. The project is being financed mostly by China, and Chinese inhabitants got free access to the city throughout its development years. As a result, affluent Chinese investors who could not afford the escalating housing costs in their own country flocked to Forest City. By the year 2019, eighty percent of the property owners were Chinese, and even the street signs are written in Mandarin.
The few schools that had built in the neighbourhood taught Mandarin, and local Malaysians could not afford to purchase these flats since they were priced exclusively for the Chinese market. Opponents of the project referred to this flood of Chinese investors as a new type of colonialism, sparking a public uproar and the World’s Most Expensive Megaproject Mistakes.
During a leadership shift, the returning Prime Minister Mahatir Mohammad prohibited foreigners from buying property in the forest city, causing a mass exodus of foreigners. Fresh investors were hesitant, and the epidemic and global travel restrictions exacerbated the project’s difficulties. As a result of the movement restriction order issued by Malaysia, no new investors were permitted to come in, and many current investors opted out of the project owing to the uncertainty.
At the beginning of the year 2020, there were less than 500 individuals living in the residential complexes, which is a small number given that Forest City was built for 700,000 people. Since the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic, the project has remained in flux, with some salesmen stating that less than ten houses have been sold at Forest City.
The developer, Country Garden, cut off more than one thousand Malaysian employees in the last year, signalling the project’s catastrophic decline. Forest City was likely too grandiose to begin with, too futuristic to realise really, and too politically difficult to succeed in the near future. Notwithstanding the billions of dollars spent, it is reasonable to say that Forest City is today a worthless megaproject.
Forest City’s objective was to establish an eco-friendly, technologically sophisticated metropolis in the heart of Southeast Asia, but it has been unable to do so owing to a variety of obstacles. The project serves as a reminder that even the World’s Most Expensive Megaproject Mistakes may be derailed by political and economic obstacles, and that careful planning and consideration of local concerns are necessary for the success of any large-scale development project.
Number 1: Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository
Nuclear waste is a very sensitive topic that receives less attention than other environmental issues. But, if improperly kept, it may be more harmful than anything since the beginning of humanity. Currently, nuclear waste is kept aboveground near the power facilities from where it originated, but the safest and most permanent method of disposal involves storing this dangerous material deep below.
In the 1980s, US officials began searching for a permanent solution to this expanding waste issue, and in 1987, Nevada’s Yucca Mountain was determined to be the best alternative.
The concept was to bury garbage from throughout the nation in a 300-meter-deep tube complex under Yucca Mountain. In addition to its remote position, Yucca Mountain is composed of millions of years of volcanic ash. It makes it possible for Yucca Mountain to absorb nuclear waste without breaking or cracking. On paper, Yucca Mountain seemed to be an ideal site for a repository, but Nevadans objected.
Nevada is the sole suggested location for the repository in the whole US, despite the absence of any active or defunct nuclear reactors in the state. Nevada’s congressional members and general populace vehemently rejected the concept of it becoming the only nuclear waste disposal in the nation.
The official hydrological and of Yucca Mountain have also been contested. Opponents claimed that the location was inappropriate for a repository because it posed a threat to a local water supply that runs into Amargosa Valley and is utilised by Native People who have lived in the region for millennia.
In 2002, the project was approved despite resistance, and the Department of Energy commenced construction. But, Nevada’s resistance became stronger, arguing that frequent exposures during transit would stigmatise Nevadans and harm the state’s tourism.
The World’s Most Expensive Megaproject Mistakes become very political by the time Barack Obama entered office, and in 2010 the Obama administration found it untenable and cancelled financing. Three years later, a federal judge again ordered its resume, but little progress has been made since then.
The Biden administration has said unequivocally that Yucca Mountain is no longer in the country’s plans. After four decades, it seems Nevada has won the war. The Yucca Mountain project has been the subject of nearly 17 billion dollars and decades of preparation, but it has never been used and hence remains a “useless” megaproject.
Finally, what do you think of these enormous construction endeavours? Is there a possibility that any of them will be valuable in the long run? Leave your thoughts in the section below!
