MEGA PROJECTS General Topic

[James]

I created this topic to discuss different mega projects that people want from the government.

One of the only places where a government may be better than a private company is on the the creation of Mega Projects, too big for any one company to actually achieve. From the Channel Tunnel for example would not have been possible without the input of the government.

I believe that many of these projects massively improve the state of the country adding much needed infrastructure or energy generation.

I think that the approach of the Severn bridge is one that should be emulated throughout the country, where the government releases a design specification for a project it likes. Ensures that there is clear support for it, and then allow a private company to build the project in exchange that company can say take a toll for a amount of time or until a amount of profit is reached at which point it is handed back to the government and therefore to the population for free use. It may even be possible to allow a tax write off for some of the time for the company that is under going the build. This is a successful and beneficial public private partnership

Now imagine this was used for nuclear power stations (@The_Raven may be interested) or other high investment projects. The government could say “we want a power plant of this size here, we will ensure that there is next to no red tape, who wants to bid for the opportunity”. Where the energy created is sold privately until a point or for a period, following which the plant is handed to the government.

This idea does dovetail with another of the policies that I proposed, namely that of using the army for civic developments see below:

Use an increased Army for Civil Works

For a fraction of the cost of HS2 the government could massively expand the size of the army and increase their level of training in construction/other useful trades electrical etc and enlist their newly paid for skills for the use of the government. Dependent on the level of training, this could include the using the army to create for example the proposed bridge to northern ireland, the building of the new london airport in river etc. new tunnels and large projects could be done with army res…

This could allow for much of the expensive work to be done at a lower cost, foundations infrastructure connection etc.

But it would be nice if you have any projects that you think would be good to add them below. Personally I believe that there are many from rail overhaul to a separate dedicated underground linking the london airports making them one airport to bridge to northern Ireland to nuclear rollout over the country to even “mass drivers” which are things that can launch something into orbit without fuel only energy (basically massively reducing the cost of space exploration.

[Thewoodenspoon]

I’m not sure about the idea of using the army for ‘mega’ projects. But maybe we could use the military demobilisation process as a way to train a new generation of tradesman.
For example, after serving 4 years, then the option to enrole in a paid technical college or apprenticeship in a trade.
The first waves could be employed back within the military to renovate/ build new accommodation for service personnel and their families before moving in to the wider society.
I know that military procurement is abismal but within the actual active military i’m sure their ability to organise could be put to good use.

[James]

A military that you left with a qualification in a trade for the men and possibly university level engineering qualification or similar for the officers could be a draw for recruitment.

Another option would be to do this with national service. Enforced trade skills could be a massive asset.

Regarding the mega projects I think an army for preparation of a build site would make many projects more tenable. A lot of the cost of a build is before any materials are laid.

[CanonistUK]

I want to see this:

Create a UK equivilent of STARGATE that can outperform it

[astro-space] My idea is an AI project designed to innovate and revolutionise the country, proprelling it forward at an extremely fast pace. Designed to make our technology and economy as optimised and efficient as possible whilst taking the workload off of many people, this project (which I’m nicknaming SAXON for the sake of this Policy/Post/Petition) will be the backbone for all AI operations across the country, many jobs that people can’t/won’t do could be automated relative to the size of t…