DUBAI, 13 March 2008 — Gulf states, flush with proceeds from record high oil prices, are racing to build the world’s tallest tower.
The Kingdom has just joined the fray with a plan to build a one-mile tower in Jeddah, according to the London-based Middle East Economic Digest (MEED).
The project, which would overtake super-tall skyscrapers in neighboring Kuwait and Dubai, places the competition to build the world’s tallest tower firmly in the Gulf region.
Of all the other high-profile buildings under construction around the globe, such as New York’s Freedom Tower, none will exceed 700 meters in height.
Riyadh-based Kingdom Holding Company, which is controlled by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, will invite bids before July for contracts to build the tower in Jeddah.
Called the Burj Al-Meel or the Mile-High Tower, it will be located on the northern side of the Obhur Creek and the Red Sea. It will be spread over an area of more than two million square meters.
MEED said that although there is still secrecy over which companies are involved with the project, it is believed that Britain’s Hyder Consulting is working in a joint venture with Arup, as engineer on the project, which is expected to cost up to $10 billion. US engineering giant Bechtel has been chosen as construction manager for the project. Saudi firm Omrania is the project architect.
Kuwait has unveiled a plan to build a 1,001-meter tower. Its height is a reference to the classic work of Arabic literature, “One Thousand and One Nights.”
Three blades that will be built near the top of the tower will carry a mosque, a church and a synagogue to signify the unity of the three monotheistic religions.
The building will be one of the highlights of the City of Silk, a $77-billion project inspired by the Silk Road which aims to revive the ancient trade route by becoming a major free-trade zone linking Central Asia with Europe.
The city, located in Subbiya on the northernmost tip of Kuwait Bay, plans to house 750,000 people when completed in 2030.
Kuwait has been vying to restore its position as the most developed country in the Gulf, buoyed by windfall revenues from high oil prices that have increased its foreign assets to $213 billion.
But both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have their work cut out if they are to steal a march on Dubai, a bustling member of the UAE.
The emirate’s Burj Dubai, Arabic for Dubai Tower, overtook Taiwan’s Taipei 101 tower as the world’s tallest building when it reached 512 meters in July. Burj Dubai’s height is now over 600 meters.
Although its final height remains a closely guarded secret, developers Emaar Properties have said the one-billion-dollar skyscraper will be more than 700 meters tall and have more than 160 stories.
Burj Dubai is the centerpiece of a $20-billion venture featuring the construction of a new district, Downtown Burj Dubai, that will house 30,000 apartments and the world’s largest shopping mall.
But Burj Dubai is facing competition on its own turf.
Dubai’s other property development major, Nakheel, has announced it will build Al-Burj or The Tower, whose projected height has not been revealed but which, according to local press reports, is planned to overtake Burj Dubai.
Nakheel is behind such feats as three palm tree-shaped man-made islands and The World, a cluster of some 300 islands looking like a blurred vision of the planet’s nations being built off Dubai’s coast.
Dubai is in the midst of a massive construction boom as it seeks to position itself as a business and leisure hub in the face of dwindling oil wealth.
The multibillion-dollar projects being undertaken by Gulf States may be engineering marvels, but some have questioned their usefulness in these days of greater environmental consciousness and austerity.
“These new projects push architecture and engineering to new limits, though it’s also possible to create buildings and landmarks that aren’t that high, but are viable and, most important, beautiful,” Allan Chamberlin, an Australian Dubai-based architect, told AFP.
