Megaprojects

Source: express.co.uk China likes big! From its $11billion Beijing Daxing International Airport, the world’s largest singlebuilding terminal (of 700,000 square metres), its $79billion South–North water diversion project, to the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope called FAST (FiveHundredMeter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope), this global giant is not  stopping. Last June, the People’s Republic officially launched the […]

In 2023, the Financial Times reported that “Protests against the new HS2 (High Speed Two) Ltd railway line have cost the UK government £122 million so far and is expected to cost as much as £200 million.” HS2 Chief Executive as of then, Mark Thurston, told the public accounts committee of MPs that the organisation […]

2024 marked an incredible year for global infrastructure and megaprojects, in the United States alone, put-in-place construction infrastructure spending reached $2.15 trillion, a 6.4% jump from 2023, according to ConstructConnect’s Chief Economist, Michael Guckes. A recent survey by FMI Consulting predicts annual construction spending on megaprojects to rise by 30% from 2024 through 2028. This […]

AI generated image of site meeting (midjourney) With two decades of delivering projects across Africa and Europe, I have observed the monumental feats that can be achieved when experts subject their thinking caps to peer scrutiny for a common outcome. I have also seen when such partnerships cave to conflicting interests, resource roulette and unclear […]

More solar megaprojects are sprouting out of Africa. From Morocco to Botswana, the drive to diversify the continent’s energy source is shifting from mere subsistence to massive, outbound supply to regions as far as Europe. In a recent report titled, ‘The State of African Energy: 2023 Outlook,’ the African Energy Chamber profiled some of Africa’s largest […]

London’s flagship Crossrail plan was touted as a modern marvel of civil engineering, providing a 10% boost to the British capital’s rail capacity, with state-of-the-art electric Class 325 trains, at a cost of £14.8bn (c. $25bn). But more than a decade later, this rail infrastructure project is almost £2bn over budget, and three years late. […]

In 2011, construction work began on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. On completion, the concrete colossus (145 meters high and 2 kilometres wide) will generate 15,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity; making it the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa and the 7th largest in the world. With $5 billion to be invested by 2022, it serves as […]

Cost overruns are an inherent part of megaprojects. They can be dangerous to your project’s success because they require the parent organisation to spend more than intended. To avoid cost overruns, you must understand what causes them. Improper risk and uncertainty preparation It is every project manager’s dream to complete a project without encountering any […]

Earlier in 2021, the next phase of the highly controversial HS2 high-speed railway line in the UK was given the go-ahead, meaning that the line is set to be extended from the West Midlands out to Crewe. The planned HS2 development was conceived as a way to improve public transport across the UK, particularly for […]