In 2025, Pakistan’s New Gwadar International Airport stands as a stark symbol of ambition gone awry. Completed in October 2024 with a $240 million Chinese grant, this sprawling 4,300-acre hub—the nation’s largest—was meant to transform Gwadar into a global trade nexus under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Yet, months after its grand opening, it sits eerily silent, with no regular flights or passengers, plagued by security unrest in Balochistan and a lack of demand. This “white elephant” joins a roster of the world’s most expensive, underutilised projects.
Consider Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s $4 billion ghost capital, boasting empty 20-lane highways since its 2002 inception, built for prestige but barely inhabited. North Korea’s Ryugyong Hotel, a $750 million, 105-story pyramid, looms unfinished in Pyongyang since the 1990s, a monument to stalled dreams. Malaysia’s $100 billion Forest City, an eco-paradise on artificial islands, remains a deserted shell, too costly and remote for residents.
China’s $161 billion Ordos, designed for a million, stands 90% empty in Inner Mongolia, a casualty of a coal bust. Canada’s $1 billion Mirabel Airport, once Montreal’s pride, closed in 2004, too far and poorly planned to thrive.
Dubai’s $14 billion World Islands, a sinking archipelago, lie abandoned post-financial crash. Meanwhile, California’s $100 billion+ High-Speed Rail, still under construction, faces criticism as a “train to nowhere” due to delays and ballooning costs.
These projects, from Gwadar to California, highlight a global pattern: grandiose visions undone by miscalculation, economic shifts, or neglect. As megaprojects continue to dazzle in 2025 despite climate and economic challenges, their stories grip us—cautionary tales of hubris begging for smarter planning. Explore these flops and marvel at the billions spent on dreams that never took flight.
