Atlanta, For Immediate Release: Reclaiming Earth’s vast expanses of desert land has long offered the promise of bettering the lives of millions of humans. And when it comes to capitalizing on that potential Saudi Arabia has set the standard, noted futurist McKinley Conway asserts in his new book, Global Super Projects: Mega Ventures That Are Shaping Our Future. Conway, in fact, ranks Saudi Arabia’s seawater desalination plants as the top desert reclamation projects in recent history.

Desert reclamation, however, is only one of the components in the wide range of mega-endeavors in which Conway has selected the most significant projects in recent history. In addition, the author of several dozen other books has chosen the top projects in 19 other important categories, ranging from environmental and conservation undertakings, to new airports, highways and other infrastructure elements. (To access all of Conway’s selections, as well as the Conway Global Super Projects Registry, look for the online version of the entire book that will be available by Jan. 16, 2006, at www.sitenet.com/books/superprojects. To go directly to the Conway Global Super Projects Registry, go to www.sitenet.com/books/superprojects/registry.)

Conway, a pioneer in the economic development field, made his selections from what he calls “Super Projects, the billion-dollar babies that are changing the face of world development.” A Super Project, he explains, “represents a cost of US$1 billion or more and/or a represents a technological breakthrough of worldwide significance.” Conway’s Atlanta-based research firm, Conway Data Inc., maintains a global Super Project database that now includes some 2,000 ventures.

Just how did Conway, who has studied major global projects for decades and brought together leading Super Project experts in a series of historic worldwide conferences, choose the crème de la crème ? The winners, he explains, “were those deemed to be most significant in improving the quality of life for large numbers of the world’s citizens.”

Here, for example, is how the author explained his choice for the world’s most significant desert reclamation projects:

“Saudi Arabia is the leader in desert reclamation projects. Anyone who visits the Gulf States from Kuwait to Oman must be impressed with the extent to which desert wasteland has been revived with water flowing from huge seawater desalting plants, especially in Saudi Arabia. This area has set a pattern for what will be commonplace in many non-desert areas in the near future.”

“Another outstanding effort is Egypt’s creation of a ‘Second Nile’ by diverting water from the Aswan reservoir into a new canal west of the Nile. Extending some 200 miles (320 km.) to the north, the irrigation plan significantly increases the nation’s amount of arable land.”

“In Turkey, the $25 billion Southeastern Anatolia Project increases the nation’s irrigated areas by 40 percent. And in Libya the Great Man-Made River project brings water from deep wells in the Sahara to coastal areas to irrigate fields and orchards.”