Jeddah Kingdom Tower work 'picking up pace’

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), and the Jeddah Economic Company (JEC) board members, visited the sites of The Kingdom Tower and The Kingdom City in Obhor, north of Jeddah, on Tuesday. They closely took a look at the work in progress on the project.
Prince Alwaleed commented: “The world’s tallest tower construction work is picking up pace and its 6th floor will be ready by the end of 2014.”
The project is to be completed by 2018, he said, adding that the exact and final height of the tower is, however, not announced yet but will be made known as the project nears its end.
The Kingdom Tower’s height will be more than 1,000 meters and is being built on an area of 85,000 sqm at a total cost of SR4.6 billion.
Alwaleed said work at the project sites is moving at an accelerated pace and expressed his satisfaction with the progress made in accordance with the project schedule. He praised the efforts made by the project team to finalize works within the specified deadline while maintaining the highest standards of quality.
About the project financing, Alwaleed said: “There will be no problem in financing the project as it will be like any other project in the world. You put equity and you get financing.”
The Kingdom Tower and The Kingdom City project on completion will likely create 50,000 jobs for Saudis.
Earlier, Prince Alwaleed headed the board of directors meeting of JEC with its board members — Abdulrahman Hassan Sharbatly, Saleh Bin Laden, Samaual Bakhsh and Talal Almaiman.
The Kingdom City and the Kingdom Tower project will be a source of pride for Saudis and for the residents of Jeddah in particular.
The master plan of the project is designed to build a city on an area of 5.3 million sqm supported by an advanced and comprehensive infrastructure.
The first phase of the project, currently under development, consists of 1.5 million sqm, which comprises 3.3 million sqm of modern multipurpose buildings that will reposition the city of Jeddah on the international scene of modern regional cities.
The Kingdom Tower features 170 stories, seven stories of which will be allocated for the five-star Four Seasons Hotel offering 200 rooms and 121 serviced luxury apartments, and seven stories for offices.
The Kingdom Tower will also have 61 stories that include 318 housing units of various types, along with amenities that include gyms, spas, cafes and restaurants, two sky lobbies and the world’s highest observation decks located at a height of 644 meters.
Prince Alwaleed said: “This is a mixed-used project. We are unable to begin the sale process as we still are working on the ground. We are in the midst of a major development right now with all the underground work completed, and we are on the verge of building a new floor every four days.”
He said: “Clearly we expect demand to be the strongest. We are aware of the demand but we have decided not to proceed right now with the finalization of many deals until we begin the process.”
He was hopeful of more benefits from the project over a longer period.
The Kingdom Holding Company said in a statement on Sunday that JEC had announced earlier this year the arrival of the biggest and tallest custom-made cranes supplied by Germany’s Liebherr & WolffKran.
The enormous yellow lifting devices, known as climbing cranes, are designed to accompany The Kingdom Tower’s growth both externally and internally, in the latter case utilizing any of the building’s 65 interior elevator shafts to make the climb.