Unfinished business: 10 big attractions that you'll still need to wait for

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This was published 3 years ago

Unfinished business: 10 big attractions that you'll still need to wait for

By David Whitley
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With most of us stuck at home, any list of hot destinations you must visit right nowcan safely be tossed out of the window. It's time, instead, to look forward to the things that aren't going to be fully open for a long time, and can be earmarked for a visit when life returns to normal again.

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

After the tragic fire in 2019, plans were made to rebuild Paris' famous medieval cathedral. After much talk about radically different designs, it was decided to keep the new Notre Dame exactly the same as the old model. But COVID-19 has seen stabilisation work suspended, and while reconstruction work is due to begin next year, it is unlikely to be ready before 2024 at the earliest. See www.notredamedeparis.fr/en/

Wedian, Egypt

Cairo, it is fair to say, is a smidge overcrowded. So the Egyptian Government has embarked on an ambitious plan to create a new administrative capital from scratch. Halfway between Cairo and Suez, the new city is also planned to be the new financial centre of the country, and could have a population of around 6.5 million. It only got the sign off in 2015, though, and it's likely to take decades.

Dubailand, Dubai

Back in 2003 when Dubai was a byword for massive, gaudy projects, Dubailand was commissioned. It wasn't just one megaproject, but 45 of the things, with 200 sub-projects thrown in for good measure. Divided in to six different 'worlds', it should end up being twice the size of Walt Disney World in Florida. However, several massive openings proposed for Dubailand have not materialised. Motiongate Dubai – a Hollywood-themed amusement park – managed to open in 2016, however, and several more will follow. We just don't know which will get off the drawing board.

New Kiruna, Sweden

Kiruna is Sweden's northernmost town, but it lives in the shadow of a giant mine, and subsidence is putting buildings in the centre in severe danger. So what should be done? Close the mine? Of course not. The plan is to move the city a few kilometres to the east, and although the process started with laying down sewer pipes in 2007, the city is still gradually inching across. It's due for completion in September 2020.

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The Jeddah Tower, Saudi Arabia

When it is finished – and estimated dates for completion have quietly slipped away – the Jeddah Tower will be the tallest building in the world. It'll also be the first to be a kilometre high. The architect, Adrian Smith, is the man behind the current world record holder, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It was originally going to be a mile high before everyone realised the ground beneath wasn't suitable. And, for now, there's just an ever-expanding skeleton on the Jeddah skyline.

Entertainment City, Manila

The Philippines has seen how successful Las Vegas and Macau are, and has decided to create its own version. The envisaged fun times megaplex is designed to cover eight square kilometres by Manila Bay, and five Vegas-style integrated resorts are under various degrees of construction. Of these, Westside City Resorts World will have a monster 1500 rooms, and is tentatively slated to open in 2021.

The Rogfast Tunnel, Norway

If you take a look at the Norwegian coastline you can see that it is somewhat bitty, and connecting all the bits of land is one hell of a job. Near the city of Stavanger, one plotted solution is the world's longest underwater road tunnel, which will stretch for 27 kilometres beneath the fiords. At its deepest, the Rogfast Tunnel will be 392 metres below the water – and it's due to open in 2025 or 2026.

The Khazar Islands, Azerbaijan

There's land reclamation, and then there's land reclamation. Resource-rich Azerbaijan is going the whole hog by creating a chain of artificial islands that will supposedly house up to one million inhabitants. Unfortunately, the money has dried up, so the 41 island archipelago's progress has stalled, and the parts that were due to open in 2020 will clearly not do so.

The Brenner Base Tunnel, Italy

Cutting through the Alps below the notorious Brenner Pass, the Brenner Base Tunnel will link North and South Tyrol from near Innsbruck in Austria to Fortezza in Italy. The current rail line snakes across the mountains incredibly slowly, and the new one should speed things up considerably. But there's time to do the slower, more scenic journey yet – the 55 kilometre-long new tunnel is due to open in 2028.

The Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

The classic TBC project, however, is the one that millions of people have been to see anyway. The Sagrada Familia is designed to be the masterwork of highly distinctive Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, and work started in 1882. The fantastical mish-mash of styles, and heavy ornamentation, have made it a key tourist site even while work is still very much in progress. 2026 is pencilled in as a completion date for the structure, with the ornamentation finished four to six years later.

See also: Twenty awesome things about Australia we take for granted

See also: Ten massively popular resort towns Aussies loathe

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