Department of Urban Planning Dept.

[Jiro]

What's the deal with Mako reactors?

In Midgar, the Mako reactors are positioned at the cardinal and primary inter-cardinal directions on the perimeter of the city. They are quite close to residential areas but also as far away from the centre of the city as possible. Hold that thought for a moment.

In Gongaga, the Mako reactor is positioned fairly close to the town. This results in a proportionately large amount of the townspeople dying when it decides to blow its top.

This leads me to think that Mako reactors need to, y'know, be fairly close to the cities that they are powering.

However.

Kalm seems to run off the Midgar grid. While the world map suggests it is nearby, I don't think it's exactly a stone's throw. Then we have Nibelheim, where the reactor is up in a smurfing hazardous mountain range. This one at least has the benefit of being a super dodgy experimental reactor, so keeping it away from the average Joe Nibelheim makes sense.

Lastly, we have Corel. From my understanding, that big smurfing desert underneath the Gold Saucer is where old Corel once stood. Meanwhile, the reactor is through the desert (which, judging by Barret's flashback of the attack, was always a desert, though perhaps not so large), up the field, past where North Corel will one day stand, across the precarious and fallen-into-disrepair (during the game at least) train line, until you reach the reactor.

How is this feasible? How does Corel get powered? Was the reactor this far away purely so that Dyne and Barret would have a halfway legitimate reason to be so far out of town when the attack came? side questions(Did Shinra send in that attack squad in Gelnika's or did they pre-emptively decide to raze Corel or how the smurf did Corel get destroyed so soon after proto-AVALANCHE smurfed up the Corel reactor?)

Also, who is actually in charge of reactor building? Reeve is head of Urban Planning but his role seems more localised to Midgar. Hojo is head of science but that seems to be more freaky genetics and evil moustache growing than energy generation. Scarlet makes weapons and Heidegger uses them. Palmer is a lardass and in charge of the defunct space program. Nobody at Shinra Electric Power Company is actually responsible for Shinra Electric Power Plant Making.

That's actually hilarious.

[Sephex]

According to the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Wrestlemania Viridian Fenix Guide (Ultimate Edition 7.71), the developers wanted to mimic a failed bureaucratic system that parallels but exaggerates real life companies that have been known to practice unethical business decisions for the sake of profit. Shinra doesn't care where the reactors are built as long as they are cheap, they work, and they make money. Shinra himself was said to say in a meeting scene left on the cutting room floor, "I sure a s*** don't wake up with my panties soaked to lose even one f***ing dollar."

[Fox]

Nobody at Shinra Electric Power Company is actually responsible for Shinra Electric Power Plant Making.
.

Smurf me... shame none of them were head of the Oversight Committee either.

[Midgar Mist]

Jiro said"Reeve is head of Urban Planning but his role seems more localised to Midgar. Hojo is head of science but that seems to be more freaky genetics and evil moustache growing than energy generation. Scarlet makes weapons and Heidegger uses them. Palmer is a lardass and in charge of the defunct space program. Nobody at Shinra Electric Power Company is actually responsible for Shinra Electric Power Plant Making.

That's actually hilarious.[/QUOTE”]

Its possible Reeve does deal with this, or he has some underling field operatives who cover the other areas. Or it could just be as other comments point out: Shinra just plain don't care and will build them anywhere there is the most Mako. Maybe they bring contractors in and out when they need them.