World’s tallest building delayed to 2019

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia: The completion date for the world’s tallest tower has been pushed back to 2019, a Saudi Arabian billionaire said, almost six years after launching the record- breaking project.

Jeddah Tower is to rise more than a kilometre ( almost 3,300 feet), placing it above Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.

“The project was delayed... but it’ll open (in) 2019,” Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told AFP during a visit to the site beside the Red Sea.

Alwaleed chairs Kingdom Holding Co whose affiliated Jeddah Economic Company is developing the spire-topped landmark.

The project contractor Saudi Binladin Group was among construction firms in the kingdom that suffered financially after a collapse in oil revenues from 2014.

The company, which developed other prominent buildings in Saudi Arabia, was founded more than 80 years ago by the father of deceased Al- Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Binladin Group late last year said it had completed payment to 70,000 laid- off employees.

Alwaleed first announced plans for the tower in August 2011, saying it would take 36 months to build after the start of construction.

By November 2014, a four-storey foundation was in place and Alwaleed said the building would be finished in 2018. — AFP