From an empty airport in the world that was eventually used as a rice depot, to a disused stadium in the heart of the Amazon rain forest, as well as a large hotel one of the least visited countries in the world for that evolutionary science project ended up spending billions of dollars.
Brazilian Stadium in Rainforest
Brazil is famous for hosting the 2014 World Cup and the world that is passionate about football sports, it was a very big thing. However, the country needed a lot of adjustment to prepare for the exhibition event. In all, Brazil had to build 12 new football stadiums and renovate old ones. This huge project would cost Brazil $ 11 billion and beyond costly, the country was looking forward to showing its love for the sport all around the world.
But as with most World Cup host countries, these big projects are not really economy over time. Critics and economic consequences are often overlooked in order to bring about the best show possible for the world cup. In many ways, the whole project did not make economic sense.
But the most obvious was the construction of the Arena da Amazonia in Manaus, which it took four years to build and cost about $ 250 million. Building itself was not an easy task. Manaus is the 7th largest city in Brazil but is located in the heart of the Amazon rain forest.
This remote area presents significant challenges in transporting large quantities of goods. Many of the materials used in the construction of the stadium were shipped from Portugal again he crossed the Amazon River. The whole trip took 3 weeks making the construction work very expensive. But the problems of this megaproject are much deeper. After all the efforts and money made to build this stadium, we host only 4 games at the World Cup. The revenue from these few games was obviously close to spending. After 4 World Cup games, the stadium was rarely used. Local clubs simply do not have enough fan space to fill a 40,000-seat stadium. every week.
Besides, many citizens cannot afford tickets to the game. So for local clubs, the cost of renovating and renting the stadium is more than total income. The stadium was also used in a number of competitions such as the 2016 Olympics. But as was the case with the 2014 World Cup, it was only a matter of days. It has never been used in many events since then and is just a reminder of how money is made construction would change the lives of many Manaus residents
Chinese Abandoned Cities
China's rise as a major economic power in the early 2000's was in line with reality estate boom. Major projects are emerging across the country and the existing cities are home to others the most famous buildings in the world.
However, not all of these projects have been successful. In fact, China has amassed countless ghost cities that cost billions to build and own very often always empty. With today's video, we turn to the Chinese Province of Hebei which is home to one such project. Xiangyun International Project is an 1800-hectare development in Shijiazhuang named after "as a city within the City".
Developed at a cost of $ 3 billion, the project consisted of two parts. Large, comfortable residential community with apartments and theme parks, and small a commercial hub containing store buildings and buildings. The project location is very simple as it is built near high speed the train station is also close to the municipal underground stations.
This area is not separated at all like the other projects we have identified this series. How, then, did such a huge task come to an end for so many people? When the work was first announced, there was a great deal of excitement. 700 houses were sold quickly but in 2014, construction was halted suddenly as the real estate company after the project was placed under investigation by local authorities. In 2017, corruption cases were proven and a major developer was arrested.
As a result, property prices saw a sharp decline and the company announced that it had resigned. To date, thousands of homeowners have not been able to enter because of the project taken by the government. Half completed developments can still be used to this day as well as developed areas they have begun to decline. Surprisingly, cars could be heard roaring in the streets outside the district inside draws a picture of a ghost town inhabited only by lost animals. Nowadays the Xiangyun International Project attracts tourists rather than accommodation development.
It is often visited by bloggers and YouTube users who are fascinated by such huge rejection place and want to tell its story. There is no official sign that the project will start anytime soon and it looks like it this 3 billion mega-project will be visited only by entertainment lovers.
Empty Airport on Earth
In 2009, the island nation of Sri Lanka recently ended its deadly civil war. The victorious President Mahinda Rajapaksa immediately made plans to hand over the country economic pushing.
At that time, the country's largest city, Colombo, was the only city with an International Airport. However, all of that was about to change as the President envisioned a second trade zone in the Hambantota region, 250 kilometers from the former Capital. The region was already undergoing major construction and construction of a new port there with the help of China - a partner willing to invest billions in infrastructure projects.
The next major project was to build Sri Lanka's second international airport in a small area The village of Mattala, just outside the town of Hambantota. At that time, the government agency submitted a report advising against the construction of Mattala's second international airport.
The report concluded that the money would be better spent on expanding the International Colombo airport instead. However, the government ignored the warning and continued with the program. Construction began in November 2009 and the airport was completed in just over 3 years. It was named after the president himself and officially opened the operation of the aircraft March 2013.
The cost of the project was $ 210 million, of which $ 190 million was borrowed by China. Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport is a modern airport by any standard.
It can handle up to one million passengers a year and has a flight speed of 35 meters in length control tower. Its proximity to Sri Lanka's most popular tourist attractions makes it an ideal destination many travelers. So there was hope when the airport was opened.
But things did not go as planned. Although it seemed like a logical project at first, red flags were always there. Most importantly its location. The airport is in a small town of only 20,000 people, a third living below the poverty line. Thus, the need for a local airport is non-existent. Although it is close to many tourist attractions, the lack of functional transportation makes it available less desirable for travelers. In 2014, the airport operated 3,000 flights and provided 50,000 passengers. At an airport designed to cater for a million passengers, numbers were much lower. But worse was to come. Due to low demand, the aircraft quickly canceled operations and within a year did so registered a loss of $ 18 million a year.
Even the Sri Lankan national airline stopped operating flights in early 2015 after Rajapaksa. defeat in the election. Due to the lack of demand and the rare presence of vehicles, nearby wildlife began to outnumber others people using the airport. At one point the government had to hire 300 soldiers to repel wildlife from the premises. Its main area is also used as a rice depot to minimize losses. Matala Rajapaksa did all the wrong things, and in 2016, Forbes called it. an empty airport in the world. In 2018, the airport was completely abandoned when Flydubai, the only airline we used stopped its operation.
Critics say the work has not been economically successful from the start and was improved just because Hambantota was a district of former president. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is accused of pushing the country forward China's debt trap, especially after his port project also failed. The airport started operating briefly during the COVID-19 violence as a need to return the planes grew. Its long-term future however remains uncertain and there is no clear plan in place.
America's Big Failed Science Project
We start today with a list of one of the greatest physics projects in history. When completed, the Superconducting Super Collider in Texas will have a circle the Waxahachie tunnel system that can serve as the most powerful particles in the world accelerator.
Particle accelerators use electric fields to accelerate charged particles to extremely high speeds speed. They are used for research purposes and help scientists discover the mysteries of our universe. Particle accelerators have existed since the 1930s and to this day, about 30,000 these are built all over the world. However, none of them come close to producing as much energy as Superconducting Super Collider is scheduled to be built in Texas in the 1980s. SSC design statistics began in 1983 and the project was approved by Reagan in administration in 1987.
This project has received a lot of support in Texas due to its wide range of applications as well hope for the rise of science. But while the plans for this project look promising, the reality paints a different picture. As it happens, the project of this scale has faced many unresolved challenges and ultimately led to a point where all work had to be reconsidered.
But what really happened? The biggest roadblock as major projects failed was the previous budget SSC collected over the years. According to initial estimates, the entire project would be completed at a cost of 4.4 billions of dollars. However, the size of the project has made it difficult to stay within the budget allocated. The SSC ring will have a circle of more than 87 km which means a tunnel of that part would be one of the longest routes in the world and completely around the town of Waxahachie.
That involved doing a great deal of public engineering work to dig up millions once millions of tons of soil. Away from the construction site, questions were raised about the operation of the building project. Many politicians and even members of the scientific community argue that money could be better used elsewhere. NASA was already working on a proposal to launch the International Space Station once they needed as much money as possible By 1992 the estimated cost was $ 9 billion and the case against it the work was tough. Just one year later, by 1993, the cost of living had risen to $ 11 billion.
At that time, $ 2 billion had been spent on the tunnel it reaches 22 miles around. As the cost went up and down, the government finally decided to officially pull the plug to the Superconducting Super Collider.
Since the 14-mile [22 km] tunnels were out of order, they were deliberately filled water as a means of self-preservation. While the United States is abolishing SSC, efforts to create a very powerful particle the conflict continued in Europe. In 2008, the European Organization for Nuclear Research successfully formed the Large Hadron Collider. It was completed at a cost of $ 5 billion and lies in a 27-kilometer tunnel near Geneva.
At that time, parts of the SSC site in Waxahachie are now being used for chemical production company. SSC was a remarkable project that could shape the United States in the particle field physics. But it turned out that it was very desirable at the time and ended up costing billions of dollars without consequences.
The Most Inferior Hotel in the World
Next on the list is the longest blank a building in the world also known as the "Tower of Doom" of North Korea. North Korea is not very interested in hosting tourists. State privacy policy and state control of any communication between locals and foreigners means the country is less attractive to tourists. However, this reluctance to host guests was not always present. Because in the 1980's, North Korea, fueled by competition with South Korea, organized to welcome thousands of foreign guests to the World's Longest Hotel. South Korea, backed by the United States, had won the 1988 Olympics.
In addition, the South Korean state-owned company recently completed the construction of the world's largest hotel Singapore. Not to be outdone, North Korea won the rights to host the 1989 World Cup He is new. A year later, the country was exposed to a unique pyramid-shaped hotel in the capital Pyongyang. At an altitude of 330 meters, the Ryugyong hotel will surpass the South Korean hotel. to be the longest hotel at the time.
North Korea had planned to launch a hotel the night before the festival. However, construction could not be completed in time due to engineering problems. Thankfully, it has not actually been completed to this day. The rise of the hotel finally peaked in 1992, however, at that time a financial backer of the project, the Soviet Union, was no more. Funding was cut off and work stopped.
At this point, the Ryugyong hotel was an empty concrete building windows and any other type of construction beyond the outer walls. Construction was suspended for the next 16 years until the Egyptian company was taken over project. In 2012, they installed a glass and LED facade outside the building for $ 180 million. North Korea's new political crisis means that renewed efforts did not last long or again the building was abandoned. It is estimated that the completion of the Ryugyong hotel will cost more than 2 billion about 5 percent of North Korea's total GDP total.
No official information is available regarding the progress of the project and the country with a shortage of funds like North Korea, a resumption seems unlikely. What is your opinion on these major failed projects?