1km-tall Saudi tower 'on track'

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), maintained in a meeting on Saturday that he was satisfied with the progress of the $1.2-billion Kingdom Tower.

“The world's tallest tower with value of SR4.6 billion is progressing as planned,” he said, according to a statement issued by KHC.

Previously known as the mile-high tower, designs for the Kingdom Tower were first unveiled in August 2011. The super-tall skyscraper under construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is facing stiff competition from the under-construction, 838-metre Sky City in China, which will be completed by March 2014.

Once completed, the Kingdom Tower It will be the centerpiece and first phase of a SR75 billion ($20 billion) proposed development known as Kingdom City that will be located along the Red Sea on the north side of Jeddah.

According to the KHC statement, piling work on the site is ongoing, and the company’s board expressed their satisfaction of how the project is progressing and the piling works taking place as the first stage of starting the tower works.

Eng. Waleed Batterjee, Chief Executive Officer, Jeddah Economic Company (JEC) briefed the board about the status of the project and presented them with the progress of the piling works being done by Saudi Bauer Company. The board also reviewed Memoranda of Understanding relating to infrastructure and services for the project including electricity, water and district cooling.

KHC said Prince Alwaleed headed the fourth board of directors meeting of Jeddah Economic Company in Riyadh with the board members Abdulrahman Hassan Sharbatly, Saleh Bin Laden, Samaual Bakhsh and Eng. Talal Almaiman.

In the meeting, Eng. Talal Al Maiman, Executive Director Development and Domestic Investments, Chairman and CEO of Kingdom Real Estate Development Company (KRED), a board member of Kingdom Holding Company and Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), updated the board about the final agreement with the Four Seasons relating to operating the luxury designed hotel in the world’s tallest tower which will be more than 1,000 meters high with value of SR4.6 billion.

Arch. Hassan Abdulrahman Sharbatly updated the board about the negotiation with the project management companies additional to the existing project engineers; Dar Alhandasah.

The board confirmed discussion regarding all the services and infrastructure required for the site and Kingdom City Jeddah. 

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