Morocco says no plans for $1.5bn Saudi tower

Morocco has denied plans by a Saudi company to construct the highest tower in Europe and Africa at a cost of $1.5 billion, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

“We have not received any plan for such a project,” Morocco’s Arabic language daily Hespress said, quoting Al Marini Al Khudair, director of Anfa Urban Planning and Development Agency (AUDA) in the Western Atlantic port of Casablanca.

Hespress said he was reacting to press reports that Saudi Arabia’s construction firm Tarek bin Laden is planning to invest $1.5 billion to construct a 540-metre-high tower comprising 114 levels in Anfa, a district of Casablanca.

“We do not understand where this idea has come from...there is no plan for a 540-metre-high tower in Anfa...the highest tower to be built in Anfa is a 42-level building to be constructed by (Moroccan) Othman Benjeloun group,” he said.

The reports had said the Saudi group would launch the tower project in June 2015 and that it would include shopping malls, tourism, and amusement and business facilities.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.