Why is the money "wasted"?
Investors stump up what they feel is reasonable (no one forces them) as a speculative measure, and in this case it will be seen as a long shot but they've balanced risk against amount invested or they simply wouldn't do it.
The company pays landlords, suppliers and employees for real estate, goods and labour and the money is redistributed into the economy at large. It does not disappear down a drain. It may or may not be spent wisely from some peoples' point of view but it all goes into other businesses be they MoD (Land), DuPont, Textron or Tesco, and they in turn spread it elsewhere. Its called Capitalism and is the basis on which we run our economy. No "waste of money" unless you are an aggrieved investor in which case perhaps you'd have been more comfortable with Premium Bonds. And if the project pays off then big gains get made.
The luddite attitude would never have produced any of the accoutrements of modern life - we'd still be weaving corn-dollies in the dark after a days horse ploughing, wouldn't we?