It's not unusual for construction projects to experience setbacks and delays, especially if they’re a particularly large undertaking, but few come close to the depth of the problems experienced during the building of North Korea's Ryugyong Hotel.
In fact, despite being under construction since 1987 and estimated to have cost the equivalent of two per cent of the country's GDP, the hotel has yet to be properly completed and has never been used.
Lofty aims
Situated in Pyongyang, The Ryugyong was intended to rival the newly constructed Westin Stamford Hotel in Singapore, which was the tallest hotel in existence at that time.
And, as it's hated neighbour South Korea hosted the 1988 Olympics, the construction of the North Korean hotel was hoped to be a gleaming distraction from that event.
Had it been successfully completed, it would have been a demonstration of North Korea's ability to compete with the West on the world stage; instead, it has become a symbol of failure.
To tempt investors, the government gave assurances that gambling and business laws would be relaxed to allow foreign investors to use the opulent setting as a home for casinos, bars and lounges.
However, the level of investment did not reach the required amount and the proposed date of opening came and went without completion.
Economic and construction difficulties
In 1992, as a result of the dismantling of the Soviet Bloc, North Korea suffered an economic meltdown which construction to a halt. The building had reached its full height but lacked windows, fixtures and fittings.
In short, it was a giant, useless concrete pyramid: an embarrassing eyesore, complete with a rusting crane at its apex.
Towards the end of the twentieth century, surveyors inspected the building and suggested that there were fundamental problems with the quality of the construction, including the possibility that the lift shafts were not straight.
Work resumes
For the first few years of the new Millennium the building remained untouched, but in 2008, Orascom, an Egyptian telecommunications company took over the project and, three years later, the remaining exterior work had been completed.
As well as adding decorative glass panelling to the building, Orascom insisted that they had been able to correct the interior defects reported by the survey team and would also be incorporating a restaurant into the top of the building, which would revolve to allow diners a 360 degree view of Pyongyang.
However, photographs taken in 2012 showed a sparse interior with little in the way of essential fittings and the hotel did not appear to be ready for inhabitants.
An uncertain future
At the end of 2012, the international hotel chain, Kempinski, announced that they intended to open the hotel in mid-2013, but as tensions grew surrounding the behaviour of North Korea's dictatorial leader, Kim Jong-un, the proposed opening date passed without any action and the deal entered a state of limbo.
To this day, the behemoth that is the Ryugyong Hotel remains empty, with an uncertain future and serious doubts about its safety.
At a hundred and five storeys high and with more than three thousand rooms, this is perhaps the largest monument to folly in the world.
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