Construction on Saudi Arabia’s kilometre-high Jeddah Tower, which will become the world’s tallest skyscraper when completed, has resumed almost seven years after work came to a halt amid a kingdom-wide anti-corruption purge.
At a ceremony held at the site on Wednesday, the development consortium behind the project, Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), announced that the tower is now scheduled to be completed in 2028.
The 1,000-meter skyscraper was about one-third complete when several key figures — including the chairmen of both the main contractor and a conglomerate that co-financed the project — were detained in Crown Prince Mohammed’s custody in 2017. bin Salman’s anti-graft campaign, which saw hundreds questioned on allegations of corruption.
Work continued after the arrests, but came to a halt in early 2018. In January of that year, with growing concerns about the economic impact of the purge, JEC told CNN that construction would still go ahead, but a years-long hiatus followed. The disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has also reportedly delayed plans to resume work.
This week’s ceremony was attended by one of the previously detained officials, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, one of the project’s main financiers. Alwaleed, the crown prince’s nephew, was freed almost three months after his arrest, although it is not known why and under what circumstances he was released.
After yesterday’s ceremony, Alwaleed posted a video for
Another key figure involved in the fight against corruption was Bakr bin Laden, chairman of the skyscraper’s main contractor, Saudi Binladen Group. The construction magnate, Osama bin Laden’s half-brother, was reportedly released in 2021, three years after his arrest. The family-owned company, which also has a stake in the Jeddah Tower project, has been re-hired to complete the construction work.
According to one announcement Saudi Binladen Group’s new contract, published through the Saudi Stock Exchange, is worth 7.2 billion riyals ($1.9 billion), of which approximately 1.1 billion riyals ($290 million) has already been paid for completed work. Currently, 63 of the tower’s 157 floors have been built.
While Wednesday’s ceremony marked the first official announcement that construction is resuming, satellite images provided to Newsweek two months ago by US company Maxar Technologies, suggested work was already taking place at the site. In September 2023, Dubai-based magazine MEED reported that JEC had invited contractors to bid on the project, although the developer declined to confirm the plans to CNN at the time.
Designed for extremes
Formerly known as Kingdom Tower, the skyscraper started operations in 2013 and was expected to be completed in 2020. It will stand more than 150 meters above the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, currently the tallest building in the world.
The skyscraper, which overlooks the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia’s commercial capital Jeddah, is expected to contain office, retail and residential space. Original plans, first unveiled in 2011, included a hotel, shopping center and the world’s highest observation deck.
The Kingdom Holding Company did not respond to CNN’s request for confirmation that its design and construction specifications remained unchanged during the pause.
The tower was designed by American architect Adrian Smith, who used the building’s ‘three-leaf’ footprint and tapered aerodynamic shape to overcome the enormous engineering challenges of building at such heights. The architect’s Chicago-based practice, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, has done just that said the shape of the tower “reminiscent of a bunch of leaves shooting out of the ground.”
The plans also include 59 different elevators, in what the company called “one of the most advanced elevator systems in the world.”
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on the return to work.
Jeddah Tower will be the crown jewel of a wider 57 million square meter, $20 billion project called Jeddah Economic City. Speaking to CNN in 2018, Hisham Jomah, then JEC development chief, said the project “changed the mentality” of Jeddah, which traditionally served as a gateway to the holy cities of Medina and Mecca.
“Before the tower was here, this was not considered a place where people would live,” said Jomah, who has since passed away. “We are creating an independent city… so you don’t have to leave here.”
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