List of megaprojects

This is a list of megaprojects, i.e., extremely large-scale investment projects. The number of such projects is so large that the list may never be fully completed.

Definitions

Megaprojects may be defined as:

• Projects that cost more than US$1 billion and attract a lot of public attention because of substantial impacts on communities, environment, and budgets
• Projects can also be "initiatives that are physical, very expensive, and public"^[1]

Megaprojects require care in the project development process to reduce any possible optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation. Examples of megaprojects include bridges, tunnels, highways, railways, airports, seaports, power plants, dams, wastewater projects, Special Economic Zones (SEZ), oil and natural gas extraction projects, public buildings, information technology systems, aerospace projects, and weapons systems.

This list identifies a wide variety of examples of major historic and contemporary projects that meet one or both megaproject criteria identified above.

Aerospace projects

Eurofighter Typhoon

Boeing 787

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II

Saab JAS 39 Gripen

• Airbus A380, a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by Airbus.
• Antonov An-225 (1988), the longest and heaviest aircraft in the world in service.
• Rockwell B-1 Lancer, a supersonic bomber with a variable-sweep wing built in the 1980s as a strategic bomber. It has since acquired conventional and multi-role capabilities.
• Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, a US heavy bomber with "low observable" stealth. Total program cost including development, engineering, and testing averaged $2.1 billion per aircraft in 1997.^[2]
• Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the first nuclear bomber, which cost 50% more than the development of the bombs in the Manhattan Project.
• Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, the longest-running bomber program in the world with decades of service, one of the largest military aircraft ever built.
• Boeing 2707 and Lockheed L-2000 supersonic aircraft projects, initiated in 1963 via a US government-funded competition to build the United States' first Supersonic Transport (SST), prototypes never built, ultimately canceled due to political, environmental and economic reasons in 1971.
• Boeing 747, a wide-body commercial airliner first produced in 1970, often referred to by the nickname Jumbo Jet,^[3][4] is among the world's most recognizable aircraft.
• Boeing 787, made in the United States with local and globally sourced parts, is the first major aircraft to be made largely out of composite materials^[5]
• Concorde, a supersonic passenger airliner, a product of an Anglo-French government treaty that combined the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation, first flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for twenty-seven years.
• Eurofighter Typhoon, a twin-engine canard–delta wing multirole aircraft designed and built by a consortium of three separate partner companies -- Alenia Aeronautica, BAE Systems, and Airbus Defence & Space—working through a holding company, Eurofighter GmbH, that was formed in 1986.^[6]
• F-22 Raptor, a single seat, twin-engine fifth-generation fighter aircraft manufactured by Lockheed Martin that uses stealth technology.
• Rafale, a French twin-engine delta-wing fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. The Rafale is a multirole combat aircraft capable of simultaneously undertaking air supremacy, interdiction, reconnaissance, and the airborne nuclear deterrent missions.
• Sukhoi PAK FA/HAL FGFA, two variants of fifth-generation single and twin-engine stealth jet fighters jointly being developed by Sukhoi OKB and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Russian and the Indian Air Forces, respectively. It is a combined effort by Russia and India
• F-35 Lightning II, a fifth-generation, single-seat, single-engine stealth multirole fighter manufactured by Lockheed Martin. Variants of the F-35 are planned to replace five classes of combat aircraft that are presently in use with roles as varied as close air support, tactical bombing, and air defense missions
• F/A-18 Hornet, a twin-engine supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable multirole fighter jet, designed to intercept air threats and attack ground targets.
• KH-11 reconnaissance satellite, manufactured by Lockheed Corporation and launched between 1976 and 1990.
• Saab JAS 39 Gripen, a Swedish 4.5 generation Multirole Jet Fighter developed by SAAB since 1978. Estimated project cost is 19 billion USD.^[7]
• Tupolev Tu-144, the first supersonic transport aircraft, made by the Russian aircraft company Tupolev, first flown on 31 December 1968 and entered service on 26 December 1970.
• Tupolev Tu-160, the world's largest and heaviest combat aircraft, the world's largest supersonic aircraft, and the largest variable-sweep aircraft ever built (The North American XB-70 Valkyrie had a higher empty weight and maximum speed but never entered production)
• Chengdu J-20, a fifth-generation, stealth, twin-engine fighter aircraft prototype developed by Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group for the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).

Disaster cleanup

Construction of the new confinement structure for the nuclear reactor that melted down at Chernobyl in Ukraine.

Bags of oily waste are piled up during the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.

While most megaprojects are planned and undertaken with careful forethought, some are undertaken out of necessity after a natural disaster occurs. There have also been a few man-made disasters.

• The Chernobyl New Safe Confinement is being built to enclose the #4 reactor that was destroyed in the Chernobyl disaster of 1986.
• The Fukushima disaster cleanup is ongoing, and includes the removal of spent nuclear fuel stored at the site of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
• The New York City rescue and recovery effort after the September 11 attacks, nearing completion, are the result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center site.
• Cleaning up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Exxon Valdez oil spill, and AZF chemical factory explosion were megaprojects.
• Storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository is supposed to prevent a disaster from leaking nuclear waste, although the project's funding has been cut off.
• Many hurricanes and typhoons have caused extensive damage and required large cleanup efforts, the largest of which included projects that targeted the damaged infrastructure. The list of costliest Atlantic hurricanes covers the ones in the Atlantic region, including Hurricane Katrina from 2005.
• Many earthquakes (and resultant tsunamis) have caused enough damage to infrastructure that enormous projects were undertaken. The 1994 Northridge earthquake, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami are some of the most notorious and recent events that led to a megaproject.
• Flooding is the cause of many disasters. Some have caused enough damage that a megaproject would be used to recover. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and the 2011 Mississippi River floods are examples.
• Volcano eruptions rarely affect major industrial area, but the cleanup and recovery from the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in rural Washington State was of megaproject proportions.
• Major restoration was necessary after the destruction caused by World War I and II, some of which was paid for by German reparations for World War I and for World War II.

Energy projects

For Oil and gas projects, see Oil megaprojects

• Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydro-electric facility in the world, China.
• China will spend $370 billion in 2015-25 on atomic energy^[8]
• Kemper Project, or Kemper County Energy Facility, is the world's first Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle plant with Carbon Capture & Sequestration. The project is currently under construction, and is expected to open the first half of 2016, nearly two years behind schedule. It is the first IGCC CCS project to have entered into the construction phase.^[9]
• Boundary Dam Power Station, the world's first large-scale, coal-fired Carbon Capture & Storage plant.^[10]
• Olkiluoto 3, a nuclear power-plant in Eurajoki, Finland.
• Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station, is a project to construct some of the first new nuclear units in the United States in over 30 years, at an existing nuclear power plant in Jenkinsville, South Carolina.
• Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, is a project to construct two new nuclear units at an existing nuclear power plant in Waynesboro, Georgia.

Science projects

CMS detector for LHC

• Atacama Large Millimeter Array
• Compact Linear Collider, (plan)
• Envisat, an Earth observation satellite of European Space Agency (2002–2012)
• European Extremely Large Telescope,
• European Spallation Source,
• European x-ray free electron laser, in Germany, plan operating in 2015.
• Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research, in Germany (2012–)^[11]
• Human Genome Project, investigation to determine human genetic sequence (1990-2003) - cost $14.5bn, but generated an output of $965bn, personal income exceeding $293bn and more than 4.3 million job-years of employment^[12]
• India-based Neutrino Observatory, (plan)
• International Linear Collider, (plan)
• ITER International nuclear fusion project, in France (2008-ongoing)
• Large Hadron Collider, a 14 TeV particle accelerator, in Switzerland and France (2000-ongoing)
• Manhattan Project, in the United States (1945) - 30bn in 2012 dollars^[13]
• National Ignition Facility, United States nuclear fusion project (1997-ongoing)
• Neutrino Factory, (plan)^[14]
• Square Kilometre Array in Australia and southern Africa
• Superconducting Super Collider, canceled 40 TeV particle accelerator in Texas (1991–1993)
• Tevatron 1 TeV particle accelerator, in the United States (1983)
• Thirty Meter Telescope,
• Very Large Array, a radio astronomy observatory in the US
• Materials Genome Initiative and advanced manufacturing partnership

Spaceflight projects

Apollo Program Saturn V awaiting launch

• Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a $2 billion particle physics experiment module that is mounted on the International Space Station (2011– )^[15]
• Apollo program (1960–1975) - 203.4 bn in 2015 dollars^[16]
• Avatar RLV, Indian version of the Space Shuttle, being developed by the DRDO and ISRO.
• Buran program, canceled Soviet space shuttle program (1980–1993)
• Cassini–Huygens, a joint NASA/ESA/ASI spacecraft mission studying the planet Saturn and its many natural satellites since 2004. The total cost of this project is about $3.26 billion.^[17]
• Chandrayaan program, a lunar exploration program of ISRO of India.
• Compass navigation system, an independent system of satellite navigation by People's Republic of China (Est. 2015–2017)
• Constellation program, cancelled planned moon landing spacecraft and space shuttle replacement, part lives on as future Crew Escape Vehicle for ISS (2005–2010)
• Gaia (spacecraft), an ESA's mission to create a 3D map of local Milky Way. ($1 billion^[18])
• Galileo (spacecraft), a mission to Jupiter (1989–2003) ($1.5 billion as 2003.^[19][20])
• Galileo Navigation Satellite System, a European Union and European Space Agency global satellite navigation system (Est. 2014)
• Global Positioning System, a global satellite navigation system created by the United States Air Force (1994)
• GLONASS, the Russian equivalent of GPS (1995)
• Herschel Space Observatory, ESA space observatory sensitive to the far infrared and submillimetre bands (€1,1 billion^[21])
• Hubble Space Telescope
• International Space Station, multinational space station in low Earth orbit (1998–), 150bn in 2010 dollars^[22]
• IRNSS, the Indian equivalent of GPS developed by ISRO.
• James Webb Space Telescope (under construction, cost $8.8 billion in 2013^[23])
• Juno (spacecraft), a NASA New Frontiers mission to the planet Jupiter (2011– )
• Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer, a planned mission to Jupiter (Est. 2022)
• Kennedy Space Center, The Main Spaceport in the USA.
• Mangalyaan, A Mars mission from ISRO of India. It is the first nation to reach Mars orbit on its first attempt, and the first Asian nation to do so.
• Mars Science Laboratory, $2.5 billion^[24]
• Mir, Russian space station (1986–2001)
• Orion (spacecraft), a planned spacecraft that is being built by Lockheed Martin for NASA
• Planck (spacecraft), an ESA's mission to observing cosmic microwave background
• Soviet Moonshot, canceled moon landing program (1962–1969)
• Space Shuttle program (1972–2011) - 203.6 bn in 2015 dollars^[25]

Sports and culture projects

• 1976 Summer Olympics, Canada, C$1.6 billion total cost
• 2008 Summer Olympics, China, $40 billion
• 2012 Summer Olympics, United Kingdom, $15.2 billion
• 2014 Winter Olympics, Russia, $51 billion
• 2016 Summer Olympics, Brazil, $16.3 billion
• 2010 Commonwealth Games, India, $9.7 billion. Most expensive Commonwealth Games ever, held in Delhi, India.
• Every Olympic Game and FIFA World Cup in the 21st century has cost more than $1 billion in arenas, hotels etc., usually several billions.
• The only cultural arena known to have exceeded $1 billion is Elbe Philharmonic Hall. Some of the most expensive are Copenhagen Opera House and Philharmonie de Paris, both at $500 million.

Transport infrastructure

Planned cities and urban renewal projects

La Défense, the central business district of the Paris urban area

Las Vegas CityCenter, the largest set of resorts in the largest gambling center in the world.

Brickell Key in Miami.

Battery Park City

Navi Mumbai, the world's largest planned city.

Water-related projects

• Panama Canal
• Suez Canal
• Delta Works
• Zuiderzee Works
• South–North Water Transfer Project, water from South to North China. $79 billion spent.^[37]

See also

• List of most expensive U.S. public works projects

References

External links

• Megaprojects in Dubai