Super Projects
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The World's Most Outstanding Super Projects of the Current Era
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hich of the more than 2,000 global projects in our data base are most significant at this point in time? We chose the following top 20 based primarily on their demonstrated capacity to improve quality of life for a large number of people.
1. Top environmental program:
The U.S./RUSSIA nuclear weapons disposal.
Scanning environmental undertakings, we find that the biggest are the cleanup projects left behind by the nuclear weapons production plants. Without doubt, the most important project in the world today is the joint U.S./Russia program of decommissioning nuclear weapon sites. We have no price tag for that nor a guaranteed completion date, but we know it is vitally important.
In the United States we have had estimates as high as $100 billion for total cleanup at the Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Savannah River, S.C., plants. The price tag on the cleanup at the Rocky Flats, Colo., facility is $22 billion. The Texas Pantex site is estimated at $15 billion. Russia has a $50 billion task cleaning up at Chernobyl after the 1986 disaster, which took more than 8,000 lives.
The cleanup (non-nuclear) of the Great Lakes has totaled $10 billion and the Boston Harbor cleanup is a $6 billion project. The cost of cleaning Alaska's Prince William Sound after the Exxon spill was $3.4 billion. Putting out the oil well fires and cleaning up in Kuwait after the 1991 Gulf War cost $2.7 billion. The program for "re-plumbing" the Florida Everglades is budgeted for $8 billion.
There's a lesson here! Fouling the environment is very, very expensive.
2. Top communications development: The INTERNET.
This is a fantastic achievement for mankind. No other development in history has done so much to break down borders and enable people to be informed.
For average citizens, global communication has been made cheap and convenient. Breakthroughs in technology have given us the World Wide Web - the greatest library in history. Billions of people now enjoy global TV. The satellites have also given us the Global Positioning System - the best navigation system of all time.
We can't begin to list all of the individual super projects this has entailed. They include launch pads, highly sophisticated transponders, teleports, relay centers and thousands of miles of cable, much of it under the oceans. It adds up to what is certainly the most important development of my lifetime.
3. Top highway project: The GREAT GLOBAL HIGHWAY linking 100 nations.
The portion of the highway across North America is open. In the past few years the "Great Belt" project completed the link from Sweden to Germany. Plans are being made for a Gibraltar span. There is a new crossing at the Bosporus, connecting Asia and Europe. Large sections of the route across Asia are passable. Far-sighted groups are pushing for a Bering Strait crossing. It won't be quick, cheap, or easy, but the great highway will be completed within the lifetimes of many motorists driving today.
4. Top cargo facility: HONG KONG'S container port.
More than two-thirds of the world's freight moves by sea. Huge new container ships and highly sophisticated container ports provide world service considered impossible a few short years ago. Most of those who benefit from this service are totally unaware that it exists.
Our files offer striking evidence of a fierce worldwide competition among container ports. Hong Kong leads in cargo moved and is adding large new terminals to try to maintain its lead. At a cost of $20 billion, Shanghai, China, is building what it says will be the world's biggest facility.
The busy sea route between the Suez and the Orient is attracting numerous super projects. Egypt is building a new container port at Suez City and Oman is building a port along its southern coast. Meanwhile, Dubai, U.A.E., is expanding its highly successful Jebel Ali port complex. The Singapore port, one of the world's busiest, will soon be joined by two new facilities in nearby Johore, Malaysia, and Batam Island, Indonesia.
5. Top space project: NASA'S moon landing.
The space program is the dominant element in our probe of the frontiers of science. It benefits all of the world's people. By far the most dramatic space project to date was the moon landing. Unmanned landings to Mars have brought some attention. Each such mission is a billion-dollar project; however, the average Earth citizen sees little except photos of space vehicles and launch platforms on the ground. Most of the world's citizens are not aware of the ways in which their future may be impacted by the exploration of other planets and the images brought back by the Hubble telescope.
Thus, we must give a salute to engineer Bert Rutan's privately financed space vehicle, which flew in June 2004. It promises to take off from ordinary airports and carry ordinary people into space. Although the project cost a lot less than $1 billion, it was a super accomplishment.
The key action centers are the NASA facilities at Cape Canaveral in Florida and Vandenberg in California; the Russian complex at Baikanour in what is now Kazakhstan; and the French Ariane base near the equator in Kourou, Guiana, in South America. A number of space ports have been proposed for sites around the world near the equator but none have been built. Also, Boeing has joined with a Russian entity to develop a floating launch base to be stationed in the Pacific.
6. Top large-nation program: CHINA'S fast modernization.
One may debate the need for tall buildings, but there is no argument about the world's need for such basic infrastructure elements as transport, energy, water, and communications. It is in these areas that we see a huge global effort - none greater than that of China where scores of billion-dollar infrastructure projects have been launched to meet increasing demand.
China, for example, accounts for more than 50 new super projects in the energy field alone. They include numerous hydro plants, more than a dozen coal-fired units, and several gas-fueled facilities. The Chinese nuclear program is especially impressive.
The Chinese government has projected a need for more than 100 nuclear plants by 2040. It is planning to build 30 by 2020. The nation now has a dozen or more nuclear plants in operation with eight more under construction. The typical unit produces 1000 mw and costs over $1 billion.
While no other nation has such a large program, many countries from the Orient to Europe are building new nuclear generating plants. The United States is one of the few industrial nations not doing so.
7. Top industrial plant: NEW MEXICO'S Intel plant at Rio Rancho.
Over the years we have collected files on many huge facilities such as steel mills, petroleum refineries, aluminum smelters, and auto manufacturing plants. They continue to be built, but we think the most significant super projects of recent years may be the highly sophisticated and very expensive plants for producing semiconductors, wafers or chips. This is something new!
Intel has led in building these new units, which cost a billion or so each and employ large numbers of workers at good pay levels. Motorola and IBM have built several and other electronic firms are adding them in the United States, the U.K., and along the Pacific Rim. They are much sought after by economic development agencies.
8. Top desert reclamation program: SAUDI ARABIA'S seawater desalting plants.
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.
9. Top rail project: FRANCE'S TGV system.
The original French "Train of Great Velocity" (TGV) from Paris to Marseille and the Japanese "Bullet Train" (Shinkansen) from Tokyo to Osaka set a new world pattern for rail service. The French system is now spreading throughout Europe. Elsewhere around the world there are many proposals for high-speed rail lines to connect key cities. In most cases, however, this has involved much talk and planning but little action.
Conventional rail is still an attractive transport option in the vast expanses of Central Asia. China has announced plans for 4,340 miles (7,000 km.) of new lines costing $42b. Included is a 1,400-mile (2,240-km.) line across the Inner Mongolia desert and a 620-mile (1,000 km.) line from China to Tibet. There are also plans for a China-Kazakhstan link and a new China-Myanmar-India route.
10. Top energy project: CANADA'S La Grande James Bay complex.
Situated on the La Grande River 600 miles (960 km.) north of Montreal, this $60 billion hydro development was begun in the 1970s. By the 1990s the capacity was 15,000 MW.
Equally impressive is BRAZIL'S $20 billion Itaipu project on the Paran River between Brazil and Paraguay. It began operating in 1983 and was at full capacity by 1990. Eighteen turbo-generators produce 12,600 MW. In the same bracket is China's Three Gorges project on the Yangtze River beginning operation in 2005.
11. Top travel and tourism projects: MEXICO'S FONATUR program.
One of the lessons of this generation for development strategists is that well-conceived tourism projects may pay off more quickly than just about any other venture. An outstanding example is provided by Mexico's national foundation for tourism (FONATUR), which has invested in half-a-dozen destination resort centers at remote sites. They put in airstrips, power plants, and luxury hotels at such villages as Canc£n, Loreto, Atulco, Los Cabos, and Zihuatanejo and got quick attention from global travel agents. Today bright new cities have surrounded the projects and thousands of Mexicans have found new jobs and a better life.
Another success story can be found at Las Vegas. What was once a dusty desert crossroads has a world-famous strip lined with incredible billion dollar hotels and casinos.
Singapore has just added its first casino and a cluster of such facilities is emerging at Macau.
12. Top new airport: HONG KONG'S Chek Lap Kok.
New airports are very conspicuous and much-appreciated by the public - except for the next-door neighbors. The most exciting recently completed projects are those at Hong Kong and Osaka, Japan. Costing more than $15 billion each, they represent significant engineering achievements. Other noteworthy new airports are located at Nagoya and Fukuoka in Japan.
Several dozen major cities around the world have invested $1 billion to $5 billion in new airports or expansions of existing facilities. Athens, Greece, built a new airport for the 2004 Olympics. Beijing is building another for 2008. Mexico City has picked a site for a new airport while Tokyo is still looking. Dubai, U.A.E., plans a new all-cargo facility at Jebel Ali. Elsewhere, Denver, Seoul, South Korea, and Munich, Germany, are enjoying bright new facilities.
Shanghai, China, now boasts a high-speed maglev line from the new Pudong airport to the central city. Another new line connects New York's JFK airport with downtown Manhattan. At the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport a terminal has been built to enable passengers to go from air-to-rail or rail-to-air connections in the same building. Good intermodal thinking!
13. Top family entertainment projects: DISNEY theme parks.
The first Disneyland in California was a breakthrough project. The team followed with Disney World in Florida and it too was a smashing success. Observers were astonished to note that thousands of visitors came from other continents. The economic impact was felt over a wide area. Thus emboldened, investors launched projects in Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other places yet to be named.
14. Top urban redevelopment project: SHANGHAI'S Pudong waterfront.
Urban development, to no surprise, continues unabated with huge mixed-use ventures, new towns, and rapid-transit systems. Most impressive are the waterfront restoration projects at Shanghai, China, London and Barcelona, Spain. Pudong has given Shanghai a shining front door and Docklands has rejuvenated life along the Thames in London.
15. Top span, bridge, or tunnel: JAPAN'S Akashi Kaikyo bridge near Kobe.
The $4.2 billion Akashi Kaikyo bridge, with a span of 6,570 feet (1,991 meters), was completed in 1998 and is the longest central-span suspension bridge on record. While it was under construction, a disastrous earthquake hit the Kobe area, but the bridge was left intact. This encouraged designers to proceed with plans for other structures in seismic zones around the world.
The second longest span, 5,359 feet (1,624 meters), is Denmark's Great Belt East Bridge, also completed in 1998.
Among tunnel projects, the Swiss Gotthard Base Tunnel project now being dug will be the world's longest railway tunnel upon completion in 2015; it will be 36 miles (57 km.) long. The longest rail tunnel now operating is Japan's Seikan project, which is 33 miles (54 km.) long.
16. Top small-nation program: SINGAPORE'S metro strategy.
Singapore is a world model. It is a beautiful city, clean and safe, with the aura of a botanical garden. It is, however, land poor. To ease that problem, imaginative leaders have contrived to expand economic development projects into adjacent areas of Indonesia and Malaysia. A second causeway opens new opportunities in Johore, Malaysia. Ferry service shuttles executives to supervise industrial parks and other mixed-use projects across the strait on Indonesia's Batam Island.
17. Top creative program: DUBAI'S new global image.
The scope and audacity of Dubai's new projects take the breath away! For example, the offshore "Palm Islands" reclamation projects involve clusters of small, man-made islands with striking shapes. One early cluster has 8,000 villas. The latest includes 250 small islands shaped like a world map.
On shore, the Jebel Ali container port and free trade zone has attracted 1,200 firms from around the world. Active Dubai projects include "Dubailand," a $5 billion mixed-use development, and the 2,000-foot (6,600-meter) Burj Dubai tower, which is projected to be tallest in the world when completed in 2008.
For visitors Dubai boasts the world's most luxurious hotel plus a schedule of world-class golf tournaments and horse races.
18. Top high-rise structure: MALAYSIA'S Petronas Towers.
While new development trends appear, some concepts stay the same. There's no let-up in the competition to build the world's tallest structure.
The World Trade Center attack in New York may have cooled enthusiasm for high-rise in the United States for a brief interval, but such projects continue to capture the imagination of engineers and architects from the Middle East and Pacific Rim to Manhattan. Despite the uncertainty in the United States, Chicago's Fordham Company has just announced a proposal to build the Fordham Spire, which would become the tallest building in the United States at 2,000 feet (610 meters).
For a time, attention was focused on the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which measure 1,483 feet (452 meters). Then the spotlight shifted to Taipei 101, which rises to 1,670 feet (509 meters) in Taiwan. Both would be topped by the new World Trade Center (Freedom Tower) being planned in New York. It would scale 1,776 feet (541 meters).
At Dubai, U.A.E., the Burj Tower would be eclipsed by the Vedic "Center of India" tower at Katangi in India - proposed to be 2,222 feet (677 meters) tall if completed in 2008.
19. Top government location project: BRAZIL'S new capital at Brasilia.
It is not unusual for various regimes to propose relocating government centers. It is unusual, however, to follow through and make a move as big as Brazil did in moving the capital from Rio to a new site in the hinterland. Also, Germany made a smooth $16 billion move to relocate from Bonn back to Berlin after reunification.
Ten years ago the Japanese Diet voted to move the capital out of Tokyo. A site was chosen, but as yet the move has not been made. Argentina proposed to relocate from Buenos Aires to Viedma, a small city in the South, but nothing happened. South Korea has just announced plans to move its capital from Seoul to a new site in the center of the country at a cost of $45 billion. Kazakhstan relocated its capital to Astana, and Nigeria moved from Lagos to Abuja with questionable results.
20. Top new urban form: HOUSTON'S Astrodome.
The Astrodome, built in Houston, Tex., in the 1960s, provided proof of the appeal of an indoor stadium. It was followed in 1975 by the Super Dome in New Orleans and the Silver Dome in Pontiac, Mich. These pioneering projects launched a wave of dome construction at such sites as Syracuse, N.Y., Minneapolis, Indianapolis, St. Petersburg, Fla., and Atlanta. It is becoming clear now that any city that wants to be a part of a top sports league had better start building!
Dome construction technology is also spreading beyond the sports field. Domes are planned for super shopping malls and activity centers. Futurists predict new domes will cover entire communities.
Rankings we won't mention
We don't have a list of world's worst projects. If we did, we would certainly include Israel's "Berlin Wall" project to confine their Palestinian neighbors. The 750 km barrier is estimated to cost $2.5b.
Source: The new book Global Super Projects from Conway Data, Inc. Atlanta. Copyright 2005.
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