Major infrastructure projects… can still fail economically in terms of opportunity costs either because of excessive costs or insufficient demand but their political importance can be very significant, even momentous.
If he were alive today, Darius the Great would have cheered the commissioning by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in March of a new railway connecting their countries. The fifth century Persian king was able to dominate much of West Asia in part because he understood the strategic importance of transportation and organized one of the world’s first highways: the Royal Road. The route spanned all of modern-day Iraq and Turkey, and cut messengers’ travel times by a factor of 12.
A new link in the North-South Transport Corridor connecting Russia, Iran, and India could have far-reaching implications for economic patterns between Europe and Asia.
Preparing for our trip along the Silk Road has been about adapting – to different regulations, technological barriers, and financial challenges.
Step into an elevator inside the world’s tallest building, and watch the lights dim as the doors close. The elevator begins to climb, and the darkness is broken by a video of other famous buildings, each taller than the next. Eventually, only a projection of the Burj Khalifa itself remains. Soaring 2,717 feet, it is roughly three Eifel Towers tall. Your ears confirm this, and after the elevator doors open to the observation deck, so do your eyes.