Azerbaijan's $100BN Failed Islands

From dozens of man-made islands, to a massive 1km tall skyscraper that would have been the tallest building in the world, these are Azerbaijan’s ambitious Khazar Islands! But today, more than a decade since it was unveiled to the public, only a few undeveloped islands and unfinished buildings remain on site. So, what actually happened here? Have the islands completely been abandoned?
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0:00 Azerbaijan's $100BN Failed Islands
0:43 Azerbaijan
2:37 The Khazar Islands
6:52 The Failure & Cancellation
9:48 The Future of Khazar Islands
#megaprojects #construction #skyscrapers
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[@MegaBuildsYT]

What do you think, could this project ever be really completed? 🤔 We made a mistake at 1:27. The tool we use to animate the maps incorrectly added Crimea to Russia. We stand with Ukraine and do not support this view and therefore apologize! Which projects should we cover next? 👇

[@aidira84]

Idk

[@Virtualversatility1]

Irish Sea bridge

[@savemc6181]

I may actually invest in this project because of your video, they could use the help.

[@defaulton]

Seems like we have a investor in the comments.

[@ritwiktrehan]

​@@savemc6181bro's trynna be cool

[@jovanleon7]

Oil money is a hell of a drug.

[@user-vh1ht1sm7d]

Actually yes.

[@jamilshekinski]

As an Azerbaijani, I'm happy this project didn't take off. Azerbaijan has MUCH bigger issues to address than building artificial islands and competing with Gulf countries in di**-measuring contests.

[@kallekas8551]

😂👍

[@o_s-24]

Lmao "d*ck-measuring contest" is the best phrase I've heard describing this

[@sano5121]

Hi , Im intending to visit Azerbaijan next month , can you help answer some questions? Thanks

[@xxdesertstorm]

right while your country commits terrorist acts and steals land hmmm sounds like a Putin lap dog

[@user-tg5bo7gz5s]

I wouldn't agree. Our position on global arena is quite poor and projects like that could earn more money for us to develop. We need that money for example for liberation of #southazerbaijan which includes Tabriz, Zanjan, Tehran, Urmia, Kum, Gazvin, Hamadan, Ardabil and other cities

[@dralakbarov]

I'm Azerbaijani and also happy to see that this project failed. This would've increased inequality even to further level. Azerbaijan needs to focus on more acute issues such as water shortages and Caspian Sea's shrinking.

[@johnnymac6178]

That tower looks amazing but I really don't think the world needs anymore of these type of projects. There are so many better things humanity can do with the money and resources. Great video as always Regis.

[@jamesrawlins735]

They are still in love with giant skyscrapers in Chicago. The Trump Tower (2009) is 1,388 feet tall. In 2020 they completed the St. Regis, which is 1,198 feet tall. One Chicago East (2022) is "only" 973 feet tall - and they are working on a pair of towers that will only be around 800 feet tall - but it wasn't that long ago that a proposed 2,000 foot tall building called the Chicago Spire was finally abandoned (too many legal obstacles). That plus a 900 foot tall apartment building that went up in 2019 shows that Chicago loves it's skyscrapers.

[@janach1305]

The tower looks like a stack of oil barrels.

[@horribleIRUKANDJI]

@@janach1305 I thought exactly that too 😅

[@steevenlabs]

As an Azerbaijani, it's sad that I was a kid back then and didn't hear about that comedy show. How can one "businessman" get $100B investment with a "project" that's just a ripoff of Dubai islands he "planned" in 20 MINUTES? Props to Regis for not laughing during the entire video lol

[@Lurkzz]

Armenian covert mission perhaps haha

[@phdonme1]

Wut? Conspiracy theory much?

[@vTransQueen]

I want to see a mega project that is just a shit ton of affordable housing

[@tamasvarga67]

No way! They couldn’t compete in the dick measuring contest with that…

[@dryteishere289]

Uh no i don't think any country wants to do that. I don't think they even know what "affordable housing" means

[@planetdisco4821]

why? Gujarat needed the world's tallest statue! other impoverished autocratic nations need things like a city constructed entirely of marble that nobody actually is allowed to live in or the worlds largest indoor ferris wheel. how are those of us that perform the actual labor fort the insanely wealthy supposed to kno0w who is in charge otherwise lol....

[@user-vb6df4sd8d]

@@planetdisco4821nobody cares about India

[@emptiester]

I want to see people take personal responsibility for their inabilty to adress their basic needs and perpetually bitching about how they have to pay for necessities.

[@percypower6876]

I am here to contribute absolutely nothing to this comment section.

[@Iweumati-td4mb]

U rock 😂😂

[@dovidmaslin9710]

Thank you 🙏

[@NYC_LIBERAL]

Yet, you have ended up contributing _much more_ than expected. 😅

[@gregoryturk1275]

Thank you Mr spoiler blocker

[@lazykipper]

I applaud your work.

[@Lifts_QWERTY]

Dubai can’t even complete any new projects because it’s too ‘unrealistic’. We don’t have the money or resources. If Dubai can’t do any crazy -rejects like this, no other country can.

[@Vibe_Boss]

Dubai isnt A Country, its A City

[@nabangokashyap5218]

Except China!

[@xxdesertstorm]

yet they slow production of oil to price gouge it to profit of it

[@SirSayakaMikiThe3rd]

​@@nabangokashyap5218 Are you completely unaware of the collapse of China's property sector?

[@Amm17ar]

Yeah, especially when Dubai uses migrant workers, pays them nothing, gives them little to no rights and prevents them from any sort of career in the country, lets them live in slums, die of exhaustion and just barely survive while their passports are taken hostage and forced to pay back money.... Easy to build a city for the 1% when you use modern slavery. So yeah any country with any sort of decent human rights is going to struggle to build anything close to what they built.

[@danhutchins3237]

Looks like these islands/cities were about as well thought out as "The line"

[@inertiaMS]

It's hilarious that the places that most want to build skyscrapers and make islands are also the places with unlimited land and zero need for more space.

[@Yusef-uh4wl]

This is why indonesia is different. It builds city for ppl to live and work. West asia and central asia build cities to show off

[@richardellis69]

The 3D work is excellent and adds a lot to the vid!

[@shogunhk]

This might be the most hideous skyscraper ever designed. Thank god it is not being built.

[@bryanturnbow8189]

Their big tower looks like a bunch of stacked oil barrels???

[@TRAZ4004]

Could be. Some tops have a slope. Reminds me of a bunch of cut bamboo.

[@joeyjoe7930]

We need to stop trying to build these high buildings and start thinking about sustainability.

[@Kodakcompactdisc]

Real men don’t care about sustainability

[@jamesrawlins735]

Sadly a lot of them are like the towering skyscrapers that China built over the past 2 decades. Terrible construction and they can't get tenants - and now the economy is tanking - that's how you end up with ghost cities.

[@igoromelchenko3482]

Start thinking in general, would be good enough 😅

[@ivanlefou9450]

The oil money must be spent and, in these countries, it's the least harmful way of spending. Some workers can benefit of the oil windfall

[@KingMidasTha5th]

Always love the graphics on this channel good shit!

[@TheTrumpReaper]

4:13 A symbolic stack of oil drums?

[@philipmurphy2]

Great job, MegaBuilds is always interesting to watch and far better then any sport

[@imrannaim5234]

Great graphics & modelling. Cheers

[@TangerineUnicornDesign]

Sounds like yet another example of an overly ambitious property developer out for personal profit getting absolutely spanked by reality. Which is lovely to see.

[@shauncameron8390]

With the property developer being the government.

[@lordofvurgun187]

No need these islands. As Azerbaijani i think We still need 10 years to boost our economy and all. Good thing I can tell is, we are developing in a faster pace. Yet I think these Islands would be nothing but fiasco, since Dubai already exists with high rise buildings. You need more than tall buildings to attract people. Great coverage though.

[@idioticplayz_]

Amazing megaprojects, though no hope of finishing.

[@antomano5623]

👍

[@jamesrawlins735]

Chicago actually had plans for a 2,000 foot skyscraper called the Chicago Spire - too many legal challenges stopped it. However, they are putting in a pair of 800-foot tall buildings in the same place.

[@cliffwoodbury5319]

Could have been a jewel on the Caspian shore! This project intrigues me so much and I preriodically look at its progress, and have been hoping this project would be completed. This sea is one of the great water bodies on this planet and this shouldn't be it's only amazing location to visit (if built) and hopefully in the future more amazing places are built along its shores....

[@MehraliyevFuad]

Totally agree about beauties of Caspian shore but not these guys. Lack of information misleading some ppl in wrong direction.

[@klsar1]

Money makes people become stupid

[@user-tg5bo7gz5s]

Now we have Sea Breeze Resort Baku and soon there will be a project "Moon Island" (and Diamond Gem Tower) realised

[@Up_Sikit]

Great documentary!

[@peeptweet]

To hell with democracy. It’s for Western weaklings.

[@christopherchapman9505]

Great video, thanks… KEEP IT UP

[@Codeinvest]

Great explanation 👍

[@vanceking354]

Great job! Always a blast to watch! Thank you.

[@italianlifestyle7911]

Those would have been awesome projects 😍

[@dryteishere289]

Waste of money tho. I doubt anyone will live there

[@edgarsnake2857]

I never heard of this. Amazing blunder. Thanks for an excellent video on a bizarre undertaking.

[@OmarChishti-vj2wr]

I remember back when I was a kid in 2014, a video for Khazar Islands popped up on my feed so I watched it & thought “wow! They turned a Simcity tier project into an actual development. Can’t wait to see how it is when it’s fully built.” Then fast forward into adulthood, I randomly wondered how that “Khazar island” project is doing today & then this video came up. 😂

[@gregstevens2917]

These vanity projects are a ginormous waste of time, money, and resources...seriously.

[@keangwooichoo6138]

Agree

[@rogermoore27]

Ibrahimov is nuts. He never thought to make his citizens richer?

[@liamcollinson5695]

The whole one stupidly rich man has a ego to think he can design a actual city in this case in 20 mins is always the beginning of the end for projects like this.

[@bobbybob3865]

He could have hired a consultant or two.

[@Infernal_Elf]

There is a Channel between the rivers volga and don alllowing up to 141m long ships with 16m width and 4,6 m depth to reach the Caspian sea. from the Black sea.

[@CBCCadet2013]

I love this channel

[@skylershank9309]

It's not a matter of completion but lack of occupancy. Where would they get the bodies to live there?

[@MurrayMaffra]

Baku is already full of unoccupied and unfinished buildings.

[@tomkershaw4384]

Not mentioned is the level of chemical and radiological pollution in the Caspian Sea. It is the worlds largest lake poisoned by the Soviets.

[@WTW407]

Not related To Azerbaijan tower but, MegaBuilds did you see the latest Jeddah Tower News?

[@meoct-ow7tu]

Can't understand this fascination with this artificial islands. Just the making of islands is already going to cost millions what more the rest

[@TheToekutter]

Some parts of the world are trying SO hard to feel relevant. Wasting billions trying to flex instead of trying to improve their society.

[@maemilev]

Not sure why are we even putting effort into unlivable country!

[@adamcheklat7387]

I remember watching an episode of Build It Bigger about Baku.

[@pollutingpenguin2146]

Who could have foreseen that…

[@EmeraldIslandGaming]

Wait What Happened To Top Luxury?

[@abirjha1503]

They changed the channel name

[@rrickard2874]

Three drinks and a cocktail napkin, nothing but trouble.

[@kendahl7922]

When Dubai runs outta water. Baku can then grow. They still have an F1 race. Street though

[@michaelwilkie35]

To be fair though it’s probably the street race fans like the most, granted that’s not hard considering what the other street tracks are.

[@miscme7116]

The tower looks exactly like the type of tubular traffic bollard that I see in my country. The base is an exact copy of the base of the bollard, even with the raised corners. Someone took a 3D model of that, copy-paste more tubes in different heights and... Azerbaijan Tower! 😂

[@gustavopaniza9964]

A rich delusional guy that thinks he's got an unique idea. What could go wrong.

[@MehraliyevFuad]

101%

[@bobbybob3865]

Ideas are cheap...

[@MassiveBuild]

Asia sometimes has a big megaproject idea and The Khazar Islands is one of them, but the are struggling with that .

[@MehraliyevFuad]

I was very active thus years in the diff projects in the country. Once approached and got that it is never going to take a place due to many factors and first of all is education level they are employing. In general, it's for good that all ended up as in the video. Many lives and resources are saved. Even location have been chosen partly over gas storage facility on the top old gas reservoir. The rest is history.....

[@vryzenok]

The biggest issue is that the Caspian Sea doesn`t connect waterways with the ocean.

[@0fficialdregs]

How about build those islands but build smaller commercial and entertainment buildings and some apartments.

[@seki0242]

Love azerbaijan from turkey❤

[@DimeDoppler]

Looks like a nice Airport can go there 😅

[@kamanama3671]

How do you have an apparent lack of funding before going into a project like this?

[@Infernal_Elf]

u are a scammer just like Trump and fool people to pay for u and stuff

[@mrdiego4368]

Maybe countries should focus on creating sustainable infrastructure, which would eventually bring in the investments they want…

[@asdisskagen6487]

A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BRIDGES?! 😳 That is I N S A N E for a seismically active area like Azerbaijan!

[@-Katastrophe]

Hey Bob, I want to build a skyscraper that's not only 3/4ths a mile tall, but I want it ugly as sin. Let me just copy and paste the Renaissance Center in Detroit, scale up the towers on center, and.. boom! that'll be 2 billion.

[@EyesOfByes]

Or you could do like Norway...

[@hogofwar0]

tell us about stuff which exists please

[@ThomasZadro]

You used a map showing Crimia being a part of Russia. Sorry, this is a no go.

[@theamericanbrotha]

We lived in Azerbaijan for a decade and honestly thought this project was a huge waste.

[@grahamnancledra7036]

I worked and lived in Azerbaijan for eight and a half years from 2005, so I was around for the announcement of the project and the start of the construction. I passed by the site every work day. To be honest, each time I saw the site I had no faith that it would ever be completed. My local friends, and I had plenty of them, saw absolutely no need for the project or how it was to be funded. I'm not surprised that it's been abandoned. I'm sorry for the waste of money that could have been put into better projects that the nation needs. In my time, I saw major changes to Baku, but I also saw the ruthlessness in which people were evicted from the family homes to make way for new roads, shops, sports stadiums, hotels and so on. No wonder investors are hard to find.

[@jamesrawlins735]

Even if by some miracle they could have finished, I wonder how they thought they would get enough tenants to fill such a massive project.

[@Artsakh758]

What do you expect from a neofascist petrastate with some of the worst human rights freedoms in the world?

[@ruiutomy1]

It is called megalomania.

[@shauncameron8390]

Ego for short.

[@lanla6838z]

I dont know if your research is correct but in scale, that building is nowhere near a supertall structure. Even if you look at the other proposed buildings surrounding it. Your own scale against Khalifa and Jedda looks off. You can barely recognise a floor in the Kalifa and Jedda but you can easily make up floor height/windows on Azerbaijan. Check again, that looks like a 60 storey building. Its also to wide in height versus width ratio to be called a tower. It looks like six towers conjoined together.

[@Nightfall2309]

I’m proud to be an azerbijani🇦🇿

[@keangwooichoo6138]

I guess the only city with 100b usd cost and 10k people staying is forest city malaysia

[@larsstougaard7097]

Great dream, harsh reality

[@berfaedahbanget2305]

So, building that kind of project in 15 years was quite ambitious? Indonesia tries to build a brand new city from a sratch in the middle of forestry land and in 2-3 years fill it with new inhabitants. What would you say about that?

[@Xuebatt]

ngl that tower design looks ugly, like some random colored paper cups unevenly stacked upon one another

[@_Breakdown]

1:20 - - buildings + oil exports

[@rogermoore27]

3:04 - say it again

[@yoaaauuiohheee7726]

Why can't they build the world's tallest water slide or something cool that people could use like the world's biggest library

[@SoupErrScar]

They should start a Gofundme, they'll raise that $100B in no time! 😂

[@hi_tta]

That's fuсkеd up. On the official economic channel of Azerbaijan, in telegrams and in general, it is not said anywhere that this is someone’s investment. It's just awful. I don’t want my taxes to go towards this, I don’t want Azerbaijan’s oil money to go towards the luxurious life of the authorities and any millionaires, and so on. Let them make sidewalks and asphalt roads in Azi Aslanov, let them raise money for the well-being of the people, let them raise pensions for poor pensioners, let them develop cities other than Baku and Ganja. Let the State do at least something only for the people

[@hi_tta]

I watched to the end and I'm happy with the ending😊

[@bongdeguzman1244]

$100b is insanely overpriced for a building.

[@vcalblas]

The entire project (so all islands including dozens of buildings) was supposed to cost $ 100b. The tower was going to cost "just" $ 2b.

[@georgiasnewhorizonofficial4084]

Where do they get 100 billion? When the total budget of Azerbaijan is 70 billion

[@igoromelchenko3482]

Crimia is Ukraine. Could you please change your map at the beginning of the video.

[@Kodakcompactdisc]

If they actually built all that for $100B that wouldn’t be a bad deal.

[@SD78]

How cute, Azerbaijan thinks it's Dubai!

[@ulolgamehiglights4373]

The same From the Line to The Dot

[@danhutchins3237]

Hahahaha The Dot will be great...no doubt...

[@bobbybob3865]

...and a partridge in a pear tree.

[@phdonme1]

I love all these dictators writing down stuff on paper and being like make it exactly like this Thinking they're the planning geniuses When in fact they're just morons

[@lovfro]

Unless prompted 100% by necessity, building big is a mistake

[@JPWRana]

His pimple is healing

[@michielstam8775]

Would this tower be connected to a sewer?

[@ShivamGhosh-cn5pt]

💛❤🧡❤

[@Seagaltalk]

All these countries seem to think they are living in the time of the pharohs

[@nicmoro2979]

As they saying goes ‘ if you want to know what God thinks about money, just look at the people who have got it!’

[@IvanPlayStation4LiFe]

With what money that country cant afford that anyways.

[@nitsaastro2162]

Who would travel to this country.

[@RubbishGimpy]

Who would live there? You need the people. The biggest unspoken truth about Dubia and UAE buildings is a lot are not used. If London, New York and even China struggles to fill its skyscrapers small populace Countries must to. Like the Middle East, these plans are badly thought out vanity projects based on perception and status.

[@williamwolf2844]

Much of this is a good video, but it's clear that it's been rushed in parts. That photo does NOT show that "they clearly know how to build their fair share of towers and skyscrapers". There are only a handful of middling skyscrapers there. It is NOT "pretty rich" when compared to nearby countries. GDP per capita is similar to Iran, Armenia, and Georgia; much less than Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, or Russia. Vastly less than Gulf countries.

[@johncheresna]

More money than brains.

[@SuikodenGR]

these people sure know how to waste their money on ultra projects...

[@methate]

Dude, 1:29. WTF Crimea is part of ruzzia? Please be more accurate while preparing your videos.

[@Mooooty]

Third world oil...third world problems.