Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Prince Alwaleed Announces Plans for World’s Tallest Skyscraper | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat – Chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company [KHC], Saudi Arabian billionaire businessman, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, said that a development project to build the world’s tallest skyscraper in Jeddah would be announced soon. Prince Alwaleed told Asharq Al-Awsat that the official announcement of this project will take place during a press conference in three weeks time, refusing to divulge any more details about this project.

The Kingdom Holding Company announced two development projects in Saudi Arabia. The first construction project will take place in Jeddah, and this will be a mixed-use project with the announced skyscraper at its heart, which Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal said would be the world’s tallest. This development project will cost a reported 75 billion riyals, or $20 billion, and will be located in northern Sharm Abhar, comprising an area of approximately 3.5 million square meters.

The world’s tallest building is Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which stands at a height of 828 meters or 2,717 ft. Burj Khalifa became the tallest building in the world in January 2010 taking over from the Shanghai World Financial Center that stands at 492 meters or 1,614 ft.

The second construction project will be in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh and will cost around 25 billion riyals, or $6.6 billion. This will be a huge project that includes the construction of a park and hotel, in addition to 10,000 residential which will be constructed utilizing the latest design in order to meet modern requirements.

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal made this announcement at the same time that KHC posted a 52.6 percent rise in third quarter earnings; equivalent to around 160 million riyals or $42.6 million. KHC also announced consolidated net income for third quarter earnings of 370.7 million riyals, an increase of 50 percent from last year’s figures.

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal commented on these figures saying that “the Kingdom Holding Company is characterized by its diverse investment, locally and globally, and therefore the world emerging from the global financial crisis will contribute to KHC profits, in light of the ongoing growth that has been experienced by the real estate, hotel, and banking sectors, in addition to the tourism and media sectors.”

KHC continues to invest in various international markets, whilst also investing heavily in the local Saudi market. As for which economic sector most contributes to KHC profits, KHC Chairman Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal said “all of the sectors will contribute to increasing the profits of KHC; the banking, tourism, hotels, real estate, and media sectors, in addition to the manufacturing, aviation, and entertainment sectors, and finally the agricultural sector.” He added “one of the examples [of this] is the Tasnee company which achieved historic profit during [the first] 9 months of this year. At the same time, the aviation sector is witnessing good growth, and this is proved by the results of Nas Air, which has a strong desire to achieve strong results and made profit for the first time. In addition to this, there is the petrochemical sector [growth].”

Forbes magazine ranked Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Chairman of KHC, as the 19th richest person in the world in 2010.