The bigger, the better. It seems that this logic is used by the royal family of Saudi Arabia, which is building a kilometer-long skyscraper Kingdom Tower, or by the Chinese authorities, who are trying to build a dam so large that some scientists fear it will slow down the Earth's rotation. In our review of 10 of the most ambitious construction projects that can be implemented in the near future.
1. Chinese super city that will be bigger than many countries
New York, with an area of 790 square kilometers and a population of over 20 million, is considered one of the largest cities on Earth. In China, it is planned to create the city of Jing-Jin-Ji, which will link together Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. The giant metropolis will be home to about 130 million people, and its size will be more than half of the countries in the world (212,000 square kilometers). Simply put, it will be larger and more people living in it than in Austria and Greece combined.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said that each city in Jing Jin Ji will have a special role: Beijing will become its cultural and technological region, Tianjin will be devoted to manufacturing, and other small industries will be concentrated in Hebei. High-speed rail networks are already under construction that will link the three parts of the supercity together (one can get from one to the other within an hour).
2. San Francisco - Los Angeles Hyperloop
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The idea to build a "hyperloop" - a closed highway on which "vacuum trains" will run, came from the famous billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.
The idea of sealed pipes that would carry passenger trains between San Francisco and Los Angeles at ultra-high speeds was initially dismissed as impossible. However, in May 2015, the Californian shipping company received the go-ahead to begin construction on the world's first hyperloop test site.
If everything works out, it will be a real revolution in the railway industry. Traveling at the speed of sound, a hyperloop train can travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35 minutes. Construction on the test site will begin in 2016.
3. Continental canal in Nicaragua
The 77 km long Panama Canal remains one of the greatest engineering feats of all time. However, in 2014, work began on the construction of the canal, which will be three times longer than the Panama Canal and twice as deep.
A $ 50 billion project by Chinese telecommunications billionaire Wang Jing will build a waterway that will cross all of Nicaragua. This will require the excavation of more than 4.5 billion cubic meters of land. This is enough to bury the entire Manhattan Island under a layer of earth up to 21 stories.
4. Tunisian giant solar farm
The amount of solar energy in the Sahara is simply unimaginable. Using only 0.3 percent of it would be enough to meet the needs of all of Europe throughout the year.
Energy company Nur Power announced at the end of 2014 that it intends to build a 100 square kilometer "solar farm" in Tunis by 2018. The project will host thousands of computer-controlled solar panels on the ground in an area approximately three times the size of Macau. The generated electricity will be transmitted via a 450-kilometer submarine cable to a substation in Italy and then on to Europe. According to preliminary estimates, this one "solar farm" will be able to provide electricity to about 2.5 million homes.
5. Artificial mountain in the Netherlands
Dutch journalist Thijs Sonneveld said in 2011 that his country, whose entire territory is below sea level, needs a mountain with ski slopes and alpine meadows.
Oddly enough, but his idea was seriously interested. The construction of such a mountain was started in the center of the country in the middle of this year. It is planned that the mountain will be built within ten years.
6. Arabian monster hotel in Mecca
Over the past few years, Saudi Arabia has been working to transform the ancient city of Mecca into the Las Vegas of the Middle East.
The peak of this transformation may well be the Abraj Kudai Hotel under construction. A luxurious five-star hotel that will rise above the sacred city, so large that it will rather resemble a vertical city. Literally everything in the 45-story hotel bears witness to wealth and luxury. 12 separate 44-storey towers will house 10,000 rooms, 70 restaurants, parking, supermarkets and even helipads. At least five floors will be reserved for the exclusive use of the royal family. The hotel will cost at least £ 2.3bn to be built for pilgrims to Mecca.
7. Chinese vertical mega-city
A building that is so huge and self-sufficient that it can be considered a city sounds like a fantasy. However, preparations are underway to start construction of such a building in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
The building, dubbed Cloud Citizen, will include three interconnected towers just a couple hundred meters lower than Dubai's monstrous Burj Khalifa. The total area of the building (approximately 2 square kilometers) is only slightly smaller than Monaco. It is also planned that such a city-building will fully provide itself with ecologically clean electricity.
8. India's giant smart cities
One of the latest infrastructure projects of the Indian government is the city of Dholera, which is planned to be built within ten years.
The city will be part of an ambitious $ 90 billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor that will link two of the most important cities in the country. Dholera will be the real gem of this project. Digital traffic control, no pollution, no traffic jams and no crowds in India already sounds like fantasy. Add to this the Internet connection of every home. Dholera will be twice the size of Mumbai, or about three times the size of Malta.
9. Azerbaijan artificial archipelago
New super cities are being built in China and India. New mountains are being built in the Netherlands. And new countries are being built in Azerbaijan.
Artificial islands of stones are being poured in the waters of the Caspian Sea near Baku, creating a new archipelago. The Khazar Islands archipelago, made up of 55 separate islands, will have its own airport, yacht club, Formula 1 track and homes for 800,000 people. It has been estimated that the construction will cost $ 100 billion.
10. Chinese New Silk Road
The Silk Road was once the greatest trade route on Earth. Unimaginable amounts of money passed through it, as well as thousands of people. The Chinese government intends to create a 21st century Silk Road.
The idea is to combine the new overland trade route with a sea route and a rail and pipeline system. Once completed, China will have a direct route to ship its goods to the West. It will stretch for 10,000 kilometers, from the city of Xi'an through Moscow to Rotterdam.