Talented engineers from year to year develop ambitious projects designed to make the life of the world's population more comfortable and safe. Billions of dollars are being spent building power plants, bridges, tunnels, and even artificial islands.
Today we offer you a look at Top 10 most expensive buildings in the world... Naturally, we included only modern objects in the top ten, since it is not worth trying to estimate the cost of such structures as the Great Wall of China, the Kremlin and the Pyramids of Giza.
10. Qingdao Bay Bridge, China ($ 6 billion)
This bridge has already been "marked" in our Top 10 longest bridges in the world... The characteristics of this grandiose structure are as follows: a length of 42 km and six lanes for traffic. More than 30,000 cars cross the bridge every day.
9. Large Hadron Collider, Switzerland ($ 6 billion)
The particle accelerator was designed and built by specialists from 3 dozen countries. The structure has impressive dimensions - the length of the main ring of the famous accelerator is 26 thousand meters. By the way, the name collider comes from the English verb "collide", which means "to collide". After all, particle beams are accelerated inside the collider in opposite directions and collide at the designated points.
8. Transalaska oil pipeline (TAN), USA ($ 8 billion)
The 1,288 km oil pipeline crosses the state of Alaska from north to south. TAN is one of the largest oil pipelines in the world and is owned by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. The facility includes the pipeline itself, 12 pumping stations and a terminal in the American city of Valdez.
7. Artificial island Palm Jumeirah, UAE ($ 14 billion)
The construction of the island in the form of a palm tree was carried out from 2001 to 2006. The dimensions of the artificial "Palma" are 5x5 km, and the area is more than 800 football fields. The grandiose creation of human hands can be seen from the orbit of the Earth with the naked eye. Today the artificial island has residential areas, private villas, hotels and a water park.
6. Great Boston Tunnel, USA ($ 14.8 billion)
The most expensive structure in the history of the United States is the 8-lane highway, in the construction of which 5,000 workers participated. By the way, mobile communication does not work in the tunnel, since the epoxy resin with which the walls are connected may not withstand the additional weight of the base stations.
5. Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Plant, China ($ 25 billion)
The world's largest operating power plant is located on the Yangtze River near the city of Sandouping. In order to make room for the huge reservoir created by the dam of the hydroelectric power station, the Chinese government has relocated 1.3 million people to other parts of the country.
4. Itaipu hydroelectric plant, Brazil / Paraguay ($ 27 billion)
The huge hydropower plant on the Parana River is the world leader in electricity generation per year. The power plant provides more than 20% of Brazil's electricity needs and about half of Paraguay's. By the way, in 2009, due to the Itaipu accident, more than 50 million Brazilians and almost the entire population of Paraguay were left without electricity for a day.
3. Al Maktoum International Airport, UAE ($ 33 billion)
Dubai Air Gate leads the recently published by us Top 5 largest airports in the world... Currently, the airport is only partially functioning, but after the completion of all work, this huge complex will handle almost 160 million passengers a year.
2. Chek Lap Kok Airport, Hong Kong ($ 20 billion)
Most of this airport is located on an artificial island, which explains the rather big cost of construction. The airport's three terminals handle almost 50 million passengers and 4 million tons of cargo a year.
1. International Space Station ($ 157 billion)
15 countries of the world took part in the creation of the ISS. The draft design of the station was approved in 1995, and in November 1998 Russia launched its first element into orbit - the Zarya functional cargo block. Today the ISS is the most expensive structure created by mankind in modern history.