Talk:Cost overrun/Archives/2015

Latest comment: 16 years ago by BIL in topic Personal confession

Personal confession

Where I used to work, we were pressured into putting in lowish estimates as to how long something would take, and then get taken to task when it took longer than we said it would. I had a nervous breakdown, and don't work.

It is difficult to estimate the scale of unforeseeable difficulties. So estimates are put in on an 'if all goes well' basis, which of course never really happens.


'Many projects associated with Nuclear Power have had cost overruns.' The source for this is someone told me so on IRC, so it must be true.


Are the figures correct ? A list in the Swedish technology newspaper Ny teknik includes:

1. Panama Canal, 50 times the budget
2. Sydney Opera House, 15 times 
3. Seikan tunnel in Japan, 10 times  
4. Hallandsås tunnel, 8 times 
5. Big Dig in Boston, 7 times 
6. Concorde, 6-7 times 
7. Göta Canal, 6 times 
8. Suez Canal, 2 times 
9. Euro tunnel, 2 times 

That is in part different from our figures. Their source is a swedish business magazine, Affärsvärlden, issue 1-3/2004.

-- BIL 14:55, 26 September 2007 (UTC)