The World’s Largest Infrastructure Projects

[Music] the world we all inhabit relies on built infrastructure without it we wouldn't be able to transport food goods or services we couldn't power our homes or access clean water we couldn't travel or commute quite literally enabling our societies to function the importance of infrastructure has grown significantly in recent years as the global population expands and as more people than ever are living in cities once a rare occurence multi billion dollar infrastructure schemes have now become the norm as governments around the world strive to keep pace with growth raise living standards and enable further economic development pushing engineering to the limits impacting billions of people and generating some almost unfathomable statistics these are the largest infrastructure projects currently under construction on each of the six inhabited continents [Applause] we begin our journey in Oceania where despite decades of successive governments favoring highways and toll roads significant investment is now being made into mass transit as a result the Sydney Metro is currently the largest infrastructure project under construction on the continent consisting of 31 and new and upgraded metro stations the project is on track to deliver Australia's first fully automated rail service originating in the city's Northwest the new line will travel 466 kilometres anderson e Harbor and the densely developed central business district before heading back out toward the south western suburbs at a total cost of fourteen point seven billion u.s. dollars equivalent to twenty point eight billion Australian dollars at the time of filming the first phase of the project is set to open in 2019 while phase two was complete in 2024 widely recognized as one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in human history China's vast belt and road initiative aims to better connect the country with the surrounding markets boosting trade and economic growth the road element of the project will retrace parts of the historic Silk Road that ran between Europe and Asia for many centuries while the belt aspects will create a maritime link with India and East Africa the Chinese government's believe that the project heralds a new era of globalization which will see countries like Russia India Iran Egypt and Pakistan benefits from the numerous sub projects in the overall master plan despite this many see the scheme as an attempt by the Chinese to further expand their sphere of influence with an estimated cost of 900 billion u.s. dollars across some 68 countries the belt and road initiative not only aims to connect China with 65% of the global population but to fill the increasing infrastructure gap and accelerate growth across Central and Eastern Europe and the Asia and Pacific region [Music] since Nigeria's independence in 1960 the country's colonial era railway infrastructure has steadily fallen into a state of disrepair with freight and passenger numbers decreasing throughout the latter half of the 20th century now in the wake of unprecedented growth and the countries emerging status as an African powerhouse the Nigerian government are investing billions into replacing and upgrading their rail systems the largest of these projects is the eight point three billion u.s. dollar Lagos Kano railway a near 1,000 kilometre link that will connect Nigeria's two largest cities to a number of regional centers and its capital Abuja significantly reducing journey times with Nigeria's population set to nearly double to 390 million people by 2050 its government will need to continue and even exceed this level of investment in the decades ahead if it is to match growth and raise living standards across the country [Music] while the grand paris express was set to replace Crossrail as europe's largest infrastructure projects at the end of 2018 delays to London's new railway have awkwardly helped to retain his status the entire 117 kilometer and I throw in the West beneath central London and out certian field and Abbey wood in the east with 41 new and upgraded stations and over 42 kilometres of new tunnels under one of the world's most historic and densely occupied cities the project is by far the largest undertaking in Europe with initial estimates of 19 billion u.s. dollars or fifteen billion British pounds soaring to 32 billion u.s. dollars or almost 25 billion pounds since works began [Music] the largest infrastructure scheme currently under construction in South America is Colombia's 25 billion US dollar fourth-generation roads and highway program consisting of some 30 major projects from tunnels and bridges to via ducts and an additional 3742 kilometres of highways the program aims to improve connectivity across Colombia while a number of these schemes are already underway the program in its entirety is expected to take a staggering 28 years to complete [Music] finally in North America the controversial 63 billion u.s. dollar California high-speed rail projects is expected to cut the rail journey time between San Francisco and Los Angeles to two hours and 40 minutes while the idea of linking these cities by land has been around for many years even forming the basis of Elon Musk's Hyperloop proposal in 2013 construction works on the high-speed rail line only commenced in 2015 set to form the first stage of California's larger high-speed rail network which will include connections to Sacramento and San Diego the project is facing severe delays and cost overruns with its initial completion date of 2028 now pushed back 2033 [Music] if you enjoyed this video and would like to get more from the definitive video channel for construction subscribe to the be whatever you

Channel: The B1M

Views: 1,381,074

Keywords: B1M, TheB1M, Construction, architecture, engineering, the b1m, infrastructure, crossrail, elizabeth line, belt and road, high-speed rail, california high-speed rail, sydney metro, lagos-kano railway, 4g road and highway programme, world's largest, grand paris express, melbourne metro, china silk road, new silk road, american high-speed rail, elon musk, hyperloop, fred mills, HS2

Id: LtJLGIOX4ow

Length: 8min 14sec (494 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 20 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Do yourself a favor and skip the first minute and 16 seconds.

[u/TheSilasm8]

Didn't they cancel the high speed rail in California? Or they shortened it by a lot I think

[u/CitizenPremier]

Some people think the Belt and Road is a plan to increase China's influence and power.

WHY ELSE WOULD THEY DO IT LMAO