Obviously won't be made, but what motivates this I think is a desire for modern pyramids.

They see the future without oil and want to leave monuments to be remembered by.

What they should be doing is making nuclear powered desalination plants and piping fresh water to make a massive oasis. Seeing a 200 square mile of green plants in a desert would be way more awe inspiring than a building. Of course they aren't allowed to have nuclear and the amount of black solar panels it would take would raise their temperature even more.