Construction projects are expensive, and the most ambitious projects can cost billions or even trillions. Experts from the British construction and engineering company MTX Contracts and the Finch Group, a real estate company, have calculated how much the 10 most expensive construction projects in the world cost.
10. Channel Tunnel (aka Eurotunnel)
Cost: $22.4 billion.
This tunnel stretches for 50,450 meters, connecting Great Britain with France. Moreover, 39 kilometers of the tunnel pass under water, which is a record for such structures.
During the work, the builders removed 8 million cubic meters of rock. The French mixed it with water and sent it back to the sea. But the English created an artificial Cape Shakespeare from the removed rock, on which they later arranged a park.
The construction cost was 80% more than expected due to ever-increasing safety and environmental requirements. The project started in 1988 and was completed in 1994.
According to members of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Eurotunnel is one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
9. The Great Boston Tunnel
The cost is more than 23 billion dollars.
At the end of the 20th century, Boston, like most of the world's megacities, suffered from an abundance of cars. The entire city was periodically stuck in traffic jams. The solution to this problem was the construction of the Big Dig - or, according to the official name, the Great Boston Tunnel.
More than 5,000 people took part in the construction of the 8-lane tunnel. It is curious that not a single house was destroyed during the implementation of such a large-scale project.
The project was completed on the last day of 2007, ten years behind schedule and costing several million dollars more than expected.
8. Kansai International Airport
The construction cost is 29 billion dollars.
One of the most unusual airports in the world is located in Japan's second-largest city, Osaka. It is based on an artificial island, making it immune to earthquakes, which are not uncommon in Japan. A three-kilometer bridge connects Kansai to the city.
Most of the budget was spent on metal support columns and other supporting elements.
7. High-speed rail in California
The project cost is 33 billion dollars.
Construction of the California high-speed rail line, which is about 837 kilometers long, began in 2015 and was supposed to be completed in 2020. It was supposed to connect Los Angeles with San Francisco. The budget later increased to $77 billion, and the construction deadline was pushed back another 13 years, to 2033.
But in 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was abandoning one of the most expensive construction projects of modern times and would shift all attention to building a 275-kilometer section of the line in California's Valley. In the future, this section could be part of a larger project.
6. Songdo International Business District
Cost $40 billion.
This is a "smart city" built from scratch on 600 hectares of a reclaimed island, 65 km from Seoul. At the moment, it is the largest successful investment project of private investors in real estate. 61% of the total investments belong to the American company Gale International, 30% to the South Korean Posco and 9% to the American Morgan Stanley.
Cutting-edge technology allows Songdo residents to video conference with their neighbors, while sensors located in every building and street collect information to adjust street lighting, alert authorities to criminal behavior, or tell passengers when the next bus is coming.
The Songdo business district was created to attract business and tourists from nearby Incheon International Airport, and plans are underway to create replicas of landmarks from other cities, including Central Park, complete with deer and rabbits.
5. Dubailand
This amusement park is worth over $76 billion.
An ambitious leisure project that, although unfinished, is one of the most expensive construction projects in the world. If Dubai has decided it wants a family-friendly attraction, it will not spare any expense.
Dubailand is expected to open before the end of 2020. It will be the largest and most expensive entertainment venue in the world, with design elements based on Arabian folklore, as well as a Disney theme park and an IMAX cinema. It will also feature replicas of some of the world's most famous landmarks, including the Taj Mahal and the Eiffel Tower.
4. King Abdullah Economic City
It is planned to allocate between 80 and 100 billion dollars for construction.
The city, which is not even half finished, will be slightly larger than Washington, D.C., and will be home to 2 million people. An hour's drive from Mecca, it will be Saudi Arabia's premier tourist attraction, with villas, a huge airport, as well as universities and the region's most modern port.
The city was conceived by King Abdullah (now deceased) as a basis for diversifying the country's economy. Instead of oil, EGOKA was to focus on developing industry, transport and services. Its 173 square kilometre territory was to create 1 million jobs.
However, big business has not yet arrived in the miracle city, where 90 km of roads have already been built.
3. Kashagan oil and gas field
The development of the field cost $116 billion.
The North Caspian Operating Company, a joint operating company comprising 7 companies from different countries, is working on the development of the largest oil field in the Caspian Sea.
In addition to creating artificial islands to develop the field, there were many difficulties in construction, including problems with drilling oil fields under high pressure. The oil reserves of this field are estimated at 1.5 - 10.5 billion tons.
2. International Space Station
The price is 160 billion dollars.
This project is international not only in name but also in essence. The cost of the space station, which in today's prices would be $160 billion, was divided between 14 countries.
The ISS, built on Earth and assembled in space, is scheduled to eventually “retire” in 2020, 26 years after its creation. How does a space station retire? By crashing into the ocean. That’s one way to drown billions of “evergreen presidents.”
1. National Interstate and Defense Highway System
The total cost of the project is 459 billion dollars.
Construction of new routes and development of old ones to serve the U.S. Interstate Highway System began in 1956 under President Dwight Eisenhower.
Although the Interstate Highway System was built significantly behind schedule and over budget, it accomplished what it was intended to do. It created an efficient transportation network that could quickly move military and civilian personnel to where they needed to go in an emergency.
The most expensive construction project in Russia is “Power of Siberia”
The joint construction project of Gazprom and the Chinese oil and gas corporation CNPC was created to supply Russian gas from the Chayandinskoye field in Yakutia to Primorsky Krai and China.
Initially, it was planned to spend 800 billion rubles on the Power of Siberia, but then the project amount was revised upwards – to 1.1 trillion rubles. The length of the gas pipeline was about 3,000 km, and the export capacity was 38 billion cubic meters per year.
The pipeline construction work was carried out in harsh conditions, as its route runs through permafrost, seismically active, mountainous and swampy areas. And the absolute minimum temperature in the territory where the Power of Siberia passes is minus 62 degrees in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
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