Whether massively underused, debt-generating or simply abandoned, these huge projects carried a hefty price tag yet didn’t end up being worth it.

From disused Olympic stadiums to an entire city that's become a ghost town, read on to discover 13 wildly expensive projects that became white elephants.

All dollar amounts in US dollars.

This bridge in Eastern Russia was dubbed the 'Bridge to Nowhere' by critics. Crossing the Eastern Bosphorus Strait, Russky Bridge connects the city of Vladivostok to Russky Island, a former military zone that had a population of just over 5,300 at the time of construction.

The world's longest cable-stayed bridge with a central span of 3,662 feet (1,104m), it was specially built in 2012 for an economic summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community (Apec) on the island, lasting just two days. The price tag? An eye-watering $1.1 billion ($1.5bn/£1.2bn today).

Ridiculously oversized and underused, Russky Bridge can handle 50,000 cars a day but rarely sees anywhere near that volume of traffic.

To its critics, the giant bridge is seen as a vanity project for the Russian government, which reportedly poured around $20 billion, or $27 billion (£21bn) in today's money, into preparations for the 2012 summit. Yet the benefits don't seem to have lasted much beyond it.

Russky Island was supposed to be developed as a tourist resort. There was even a 2021 agreement to develop a $70 million (£55m) complex featuring an indoor waterpark, shopping and entertainment area, sports centre and Novotel-branded hotel. However, there are no details on when that will be built, let alone open for business.

As Chief Minister of India's Uttar Pradesh state during the late 1990s and early 2000s, rags-to-riches politician Kumari Mayawati splurged a colossal $1.3 billion ($1.8 billion/£1.4bn today) on five parks and hundreds of monumental statues.

These included statues of prominent politicians from the historically oppressed Dalit caste, including a statue of herself (pictured left) and – ironically – many statues of white elephants, her political party's symbol.

Regarded by many as an obscene waste of money in a state where millions of people endure grinding poverty, the parks and statues project was heavily criticised by India's Auditor General and members of the country's National Congress.

Not everyone feels the same though. Others have pointed out the value in celebrating the icons of those who have been marginalised and allowing them space in the public realm. 

In February 2019, the Supreme Court requested that Mayawati refund the public money used to erect the elephants and statues of herself, arguing it was taxpayer cash paying for political promotion. In a later hearing in April, the Mayawati tried to defend the statues by saying they represent the "will of the people" and that they were not representing her political party, but rather "architectural design". 

Whether she'll end up repaying the money is unclear. Until then, the parks remain contentious and the local government is struggling to cover their maintenance, despite raising entry fees in 2023. 

Towering ominously above Pyongyang, the so-called 'Hotel of Doom' is a white elephant par excellence. Since construction began in 1987, the triangular 105-storey tower has swallowed up the equivalent of 2% of North Korea's entire GDP.

In a country where an estimated 12.2 million people are undernourished, the lavish landmark serves as a jarring reminder of how the country's resources are being used irresponsibly.

Beset with funding and construction problems, the hotel's structure was finished in 2011, with the interior fit-out remaining. There were plans for a German investor to partially open the hotel in 2013, but those fell through and the tower remains unfinished, unopened and unused.

Poor quality materials and electricity shortages were among the issues that stalled the tower's development.

The massive concrete structure has been clad in glass panels to give the illusion of a skyscraper. Meanwhile, LED panels installed on one side of its triangular shape provide one of the world's largest light displays – when there's enough electricity to power it.

With a push from leader Kim Jong Un to grow the country's tourism industry, government officials came up with a plan in the summer of 2024 to sell the rights to a foreign entity to operate a casino on the site, on the condition that the operator covers the cost of finishing the interior. It's estimated the construction that's been undertaken so far has cost as much as $2.8 billion (£2.2bn). 

An embarrassing emblem of the Spanish Financial Crisis, Ciudad Real Central Airport opened in 2008 at a cost of €1 billion, equivalent to €1.4 billion ($1.5bn/£1.2bn) in today's money. Located far from Spain's tourist destinations, this is one airport that should probably never have seen the light of day.

Investors were sucked in by wildly overoptimistic passenger forecasts – the airport has the longest runway in Europe and can handle up to 10 million travellers a year, but only several thousand passed through during its first year of operation.

Airlines ended up pulling out, the owner went bankrupt, and the airport ceased operations in 2012.

In July 2015, it was reported that the billion-dollar airport had been sold to a group of British and Asian investors for just €10,000 ($11.2/£9k). But the airport has remained abandoned and derelict for much of the last decade.

In October 2024 the government announced that the airport would be converted into a migrant reception centre for processing and temporary housing. No timeline has been shared for when these changes will take place or what the cost will be. 

Montreal's Olympic Stadium is considered one of the world's most notorious white elephants. Following problem after problem, the stadium wasn't even finished in time for the 1976 games, despite its massive price tag.

In 2006, the cost of the stadium and adjacent park was estimated at CA$1.47 billion, the equivalent of CA$2.14 billion ($1.5/£1.2bn) in today’s money.

Work pressed on until 1987 when the roof was finally completed, but even that wasn't fit for purpose – the structure was damaged several times and a portion collapsed in 1999.

The stadium has managed to attract tenants on and off over the years but hasn't had a permanent tenant since 2004, adding to its white elephant reputation. However, reports say the cost of dismantling it would be CA$2 billion ($1.4bn/£1.1bn).

The troublesome roof is one of the biggest issues today, with even an inch (2.5cm) of snow requiring events to be postponed – not great in a northern city. Quebec officials announced in February 2024 that repairing the stadium's fragile roof will cost CA$870 million ($618/£491m), starting that summer and lasting four years. 

The provincial government hopes to boost tourism at the Olympic Park by doubling its capacity and increasing the number of events held at the stadium – especially large-scale concerts, with one minister pointing out that megastars Taylor Swift and Beyoncé didn't include Quebec in their most recent tours.

Also in Montreal, Mirabel International Airport was opened in 1975 to support the existing Dorval Airport at a cost of CA$500 million, around CA$2.7 billion ($1.9bn/£1.5bn) in today's money. Despite being the world's largest airport when it opened, it soon became clear there were big problems with it.

For starters, Mirabel is situated an inconvenient 27 miles (45km) from Montreal and lacks a rail link for travellers to connect to Dorval airport. At the time of its conception, Montreal provided European-based flights a place to refuel before continuing on to the west coasts of the US and Canada. However, technology enabling longer flights advanced all too quickly. 

Airlines soon abandoned the airport for Toronto, and by the time Dorval (now Trudeau) Airport had expanded in the early 2000s, flights to and from Mirabel had ceased. 

The terminal building has since been demolished, although what remains has found success in serving cargo flights, with around 30 companies operating in and out of the airport. The airport also offers facilities for aircraft repair and other aerospace training activities.

The site has also been used for a few movie sets, including a zombie apocalypse film called Warm Bodies (2013).

White elephants created for sporting events are sadly all too common, and Brazil has more than its fair share. A total of 12 stadiums were newly built or renovated at a cost of $3.6 billion, which is $4.8 billion (£3.8bn) today, for the 2014 World Cup.

A decade after the tournament, and many of these high-maintenance venues remain either empty, underused or have been thoughtlessly repurposed. Just two years after the World Cup, the Estádio Nacional (pictured) in the country's capital Brasília, for instance, was reportedly being used as a bus depot.

Meanwhile other World Cup stadiums in the country have been plagued by corruption scandals, maintenance issues and big financial losses.

What's more, the cost of maintaining the largely neglected stadiums is coming out of the public purse. According to a report by Brazilian newspaper The Rio Times, around $69 million (£55m) of public money was used in 2018 alone to maintain the stadiums throughout the country. In a desperate attempt to make use of the site, the Maracanã stadium (pictured) in Rio de Janeiro has turned to hosting concerts and other events, though the future of the venue remains unclear.

With Brazil awarded the bid to host the 2027 Women's World Cup in May 2024, the same cities from 2014 are proposed for hosting events. Whether the stadiums are in shape to pass organiser FIFA's ongoing inspections is yet to be seen. 

The pet project of brutal dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, the gigantic Palace of the Parliament in the Romanian capital Bucharest sprawls over more than 3.9 million square feet (365,000sqm).

It's the second largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon and allegedly can be seen from the Moon. Swathes of the city were demolished for this wholly unnecessary project, which began in 1984.

Thousands of workers died building the structure. Work continued following Ceaușescu's execution in 1989, and the Palace of Parliament was eventually finished in 1997. In 2006, it was estimated that the colossal complex cost a total of €3 billion to build. That's $4.6 billion (£3.7bn) in today's money.

The building does house government bodies and offices, but much of it goes unused and the heating and electricity bill alone allegedly comes in at around $6 million (£4.9m) a year.

There's a lot more to this gigantic building than meets the eye. Underneath, there's a network of mysterious tunnels, which were explored by the presenters of British TV show Top Gear in one episode, when they were filmed driving their cars through them.

The tunnels were created for Ceaușescu, who worried that he would need an escape route to get him to the airport in case of a revolution. 

A new capital was built at a rumoured cost of $4 billion ($5.5bn/£4.4bn today) by the military dictatorship of Myanmar over a 10-year period, finishing in 2012.

A vanity project of former leader Than Shwe, the capital is thought to have been moved inland following the advice of an astrologer, who warned of an amphibious US invasion via the former capital Yangon, located on the coast.

Myanmar's 'ghost capital' boasts wide boulevards, palatial villas, large public buildings and even a safari park. The only thing it lacks is residents.

While official figures put the population at one million, the actual number of residents is close to zero, and the city represents an appalling waste of money. 

The bizarre city is divided into different areas: residential zones, hotel zones, ministry zones and shopping zones, to name a few. Yet despite the enormous sums of money and extensive planning that went into creating Naypyidaw, the city largely remains a place for government buildings. Meanwhile, its infrastructure and resources are massively underused. 

Built during the 1930s, the Maginot Line is said to cost a staggering five billion francs, with other estimates putting it in the range of five to seven billion francs to build, which would be as much as $9 billion (£7bn) in today's money.

The line, named after war minister Andre Maginot, consisted of obstacles, fortifications and weapons stretching along France’s borders with Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Luxembourg. It was designed to prevent German troops from invading during World War II.

Yet it was infamous for being ineffective – to the point where the term 'Maginot Line' has become synonymous with any kind of barrier that provides a false sense of security.

The line was much weaker through the Ardennes forest, where French military officials believed the terrain was too rough for the Germans to attempt an invasion. They were wrong, and in May 1940, the German army burst through the forest and invaded France.

For all its faults, the Maginot Line did provide some use to troops, though it probably wasn't worth the hefty price tag. As pictured here, the underground tunnels beneath the fortifications provided training and living space for the army, including air conditioning and eating areas.

The British Navy commissioned two new aircraft carriers at a combined cost of nearly $9.8 billion (£7.6bn), more than double original estimates.

The first, HMS Queen Elizabeth, was announced in 2016 and the second, HMS Prince of Wales, in December 2017. However, they've both been labelled a grotesque waste of money by critics.

Both ships are designed to carry 40 military aircraft, and the cost of those spiralled too. In addition, equipment cutbacks on the carriers mean these planes cannot carry as many weapons or fly as far as originally intended.

A report claimed missiles costing a fraction of the price of the carriers could easily disable them. At the time, UK politicians said the building of the second ship made "little sense" without sufficient planes to fly from it or ships to protect it.

In a statement in May 2019, former Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Houghton poured salt on the wound. He insisted that the Ministry of Defence would "rue the day" the ships were bought, stating the money would have been better spent on maintaining the surface fleet and providing more manpower. 

Then, in 2020, the National Audit Office voiced its concerns over missing elements such as aircraft and support ships, in light of the fact that the Ministry of Defence expected the ships will have "initial operating capacity" by December of that year. 

It wasn't until 2024 that both ships made it to sea, embarking on a publicity tour to Germany and Liverpool. More recently, the UK's defence secretary John Healey told Parliament that cuts to the Navy's budget would potentially require mothballing one of the two carriers.

Athens' Olympic facilities were such an unmitigated financial disaster that they contributed to bringing down the entire Greek economy, which is still recovering today. Like many purpose-built venues and stadiums, the vast Olympic facilities were not built with the long term in mind.

Flush with EU cash, the Greek government went on a spending spree to prepare for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The total amount they splashed on the games varies widely, but even fairly conservative estimates put it at €8.5 billion, or around $13.75 billion (£10.9bn) in today's money. 

Twenty years later and the vast majority of the venues lie empty while the country is still paying back its debts. Without the state providing any real plan for what would happen to the venues after the Games, they've been left to fall into disrepair.

The aquatics centre has completely dried up, heaps of rubbish have been left in outdoor training pools, and monuments are covered in graffiti.

Topping our list, the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing cost a staggering $40 billion in 2008, equivalent to $55 billion (£44bn) in today’s money. For more than a decade, many of the venues were simply abandoned, or at best repurposed in 2022 for the Winter Olympics.

Despite conjuring up some haunting scenes, it's not all doom and gloom for Beijing's Olympic venues. The two main venues, the Bird's Nest Stadium and Water Cube Aquatics Centre, remain popular tourist attractions, albeit ones that are costly to maintain; in 2012, it was reported that the upkeep for the Bird's Nest stadium is at least $11 million (8.75m) per year.

Yet the abandoned and largely derelict facilities leave a bitter taste in the mouth for many. After an estimated two million residents were removed from their homes to clear space for the 2008 games, many of them by force, the fact that these venues were left to rot afterwards only adds insult to injury.

Now discover eight over-budget and delayed megaprojects around the world today