HI Guys,
I know this has been discussed before but I have been looking for a solution for days and it was hard for me to find a solution to this so I am sharing this here so that its easy for others.
Great works has always been an issue for me, I barely used to see it except in 2-3 cities out of 7. I have tried running it on cheetah speed for an hour etc but it doesn't work. They just unlock and stay unlocked. Thats definitely a bug and I confirmed it with an EA representative.
Now I found two solutions to this problem.
1. I tried claiming all 7 cities in Edgewater Bay. I developed all of them simultaneously, like 3 months in-game for each region, then switched to the next region and so on. This went on till the great work Solar Farm was unlocked. Once it got approved in one city, I immediately logged into other cities and everything unlocked almost in 1-2 mins max. And I could see the great farm in all cities. From here on it doesn't matter how many in game days you take, apparently it syncs once it is visible from a region
2. This is another method I tried after reading a few articles and posts here in Reflection Atoll. Its been described before. I played in sandbox mode, clamied a city, and played it will I unlocked the solar farm. I clicked on "Build It" and waited till it was approved. Then immediately, I claimed the other cities and withing 1-2 mins it showed up in the great works.
So there are 3 things I can conclude from my experiment.
1. The great works sync easily if your cities are empty, and the whole region is empty or they are in the same in game time
2. Once visible in a city, the materials and all sync no matter what.
3. If you have build a great work in the region and in another city that you claim, the works just unlock and do not show up as built even after 1-2 mins, its the bug. Won't sync no matter how much you try.
Just my observation.