Perspective view of Jeda Tower after completion
The 157-story, 1 km-high Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia has resumed construction after 7 years.
When completed in 2028, it will be recorded as the tallest building in the world. The current tallest building is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), standing 828 meters tall with 163 floors. Compared to South Korea's tallest, the Jamsil Lotte World Tower (123 floors, 555 meters), its height is nearly twice as much.
On the 3rd (local time), foreign media such as Gulf News and CNN reported that Jeddah Economic Company (JEC) announced the expected completion date of Jeddah Tower as 2028 during a ceremony marking the resumption of construction. The 1 km-high skyscraper was originally scheduled to be completed in 2020, and about one-third of the construction (up to the 63rd floor out of 157 floors) was completed by 2017. However, construction was halted due to a large-scale anti-corruption investigation in Saudi Arabia at that time. Although there were several attempts to resume, the project was paused for 7 years due to the 2018 global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the event, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company and a major investor in the Jeddah Tower project, attended. He posted a digital rendering video of the tower on his social media with the message "We are back."
Bakr bin Laden, chairman of the Saudi Binladin Group, the construction company, was also involved in the anti-corruption campaign and was released in 2021. The originally estimated cost of $1.2 billion has also increased. The new contract amount is $1.9 billion (2.5 trillion KRW), with $290 million already paid.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
