But I guess not that unexpected. They have barely any peers and have immense power and infinite money. Hardly a recipe for staying grounded and socially minded
They tend to be crazy ideas with fundamental flaws and either don't happen are are silently reshaped to be feasible.
The "clever" interpretation would be that this is primarily done to fleece the states treasury, and I'm certain that still happens, but I firmly believe that the driving force is one ultra rich ultra powerful naive person without any negative feedback from his inner circle.
If they draw something on a piece of paper, believing themselves to be very visionary and order that thing to be built people will just start doing so without a word of warning. Speak up and you might find yourself short of a few limbs.