What’s with tallest towers and Emaar?
The developer is going to build the world’s tallest tower in Saudi.
June 14, 2009 12:58 by Aarti Nagraj
Saudi-based Kingdom Holding, which is owned by billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, recently announced that it appointed Dubai-based Emaar Properties as lead developer of its $26.7 billion project, the Jeddah Kingdom City land and Kingdom Tower. The project, located in Jeddah, will feature the world’s tallest tower.
Emaar was selected for its previous proven experience in the development of mega projects, [its] knowledge of the area and social setup,” said a statement by Kingdom Holding.
Kipp thinks something is amiss. Here’s why:
Emaar’s Burj Dubai, currently the world’s tallest tower, is still not ready, and some reports suggest it won’t be completed before its scheduled launch later this year.
The financial crisis has not yet bid farewell to the world, and has already cost Bin Talal and his company a lot of money. This new project costs close to $27 billion.
Is a one kilometer high tower even feasible?
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3 Comments
A 1 km tower is feasible, and even higher, but very little of the extra height above 800 m will be put to any use involving occupancy by humans. Antennae, fire-water tanks and elevator machine rooms will probably take up most of the limited square meterage available for a statically practical tower.
Why does the world need another tall tower? We seem ill able to afford the extra costs – both in terms of man power, the environmental degradation caused, and the huge investment in terms of time, money and raw materials. In a world where 1.5 billion people worldwide live below the poverty line on less than $1.25 a day…..what is essential, feeding humanity and ensuring a fair deal to even the least privileged of its members, or putting together another edifice, which will achieve nothing but a certain “status” for the country it is in……seems pretty logical which option one should choose….and also pretty obvious that the logic usually has no place in discussions when it comes to power towers!
Seems like a planned joke that emaar one day talks of a 1 km tower, which pushes the dubai index for one day, and the next days says “thats not what we plan”. I wonder how many people made money and how many lost in that 24 hours.