White elephant: Bangkok's never finished Elevated Road and Train System (BERT)

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White elephant: Bangkok's never finished Elevated Road and Train System (BERT)

upload.wikimedia.org

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White Elephant@lemm.eeEnglish · 1 year ago

Construction commenced in 1990 for the Bangkok Elevated Road and Train System (BERT), connecting central Bangkok to the former main airport, Don Mueang International Airport. The initiative aimed to alleviate escalating traffic congestion by implementing an elevated roadway and rail network.

However, the project was largely halted in 1992 and was eventually terminated in 1998 due to legal and financial complications. By then, around 13% of the project had been executed, mainly in the form of concrete pillars designed to support the highway and railway tracks.

Some of these pillars have been dismantled, while the remainder still stands. These abandoned pillars have garnered the nickname “Thai Stonehenge” due to the artistic appearance of certain pillar structures.

The construction company estimated the works to have costed US$575 million.

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White Elephant

A white elephant, alternatively referred to as a “boondoggle” or “grands travaux inutiles (GTI),” is a metaphor that represents a (partially) completed structure that is deemed wasteful in terms of both time and finances. Simultaneously, it becomes a liability due to the ongoing expenses associated with its maintenance, operation and commitments.

Instances of white elephants encompass various scenarios, such as the construction of bridges without corresponding road connections, the establishment of railways that remain unused, or the erection of substantial structures like power plants that never become operational.

The metaphor white elephant and why it is used

Wikipedia description of the metaphor: a white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness.

In this context, the metaphor 'white elephant’ is used because these extensive (partially) constructed projects demand maintenance, inspections, and similar commitments, making them a persistent source of burden for their owners, despite being (largely) unproductive.

This community

This community is a gathering of white elephant projects. White elephants can be captivating in several aspects:

Their level of “wastefulness” stands in stark contrast to our predominantly organized and planned society;
The stories behind these white elephants can be intriguing;
They can have vast, deserted constructions featuring interesting images and other visual content.

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