A project to build what would be the world’s tallest building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is reportedly getting underway again with procurement to replace the original contractor. Construction of the more-than-kilometer-tall Jeddah Tower halted in early 2018 following the arrest of Bakr bin Laden, then-chairman and largest shareholder of contractor Saudi Binladin Group, which had been building the tower.

Middle East business magazine MEED reported that owner Jeddah Economic Co. (JEC) invited at least 14 contractors to bid for the job. The report cited unnamed sources close to the project, as well as Talal Ibrahim Almaiman, CEO of Kingdom Holding Co., which is one of the partners behind JEC. 

According to MEED, those contractors include Saudi-based Almabani, Bawani, El-Seif Engineering Contracting, Nesma & Partners and Saudi Freyssinet; China-based China Harbour, China State Construction Engineering Corp. and Powerchina; South Korean firms Hyundai Engineering Construction and Samsung C+T; Austria-based Strabag; Sweden-based Skanska, Kuwait-based Mohammed Abdulmoshin al-Kharafi & Sons and Lebanon-based Consolidated Contractors Co.

Jeddah Tower would be more than a kilometer tall. Rendering courtesy of ©Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture/Jeddah Economic Company

ENR could not independently verify the MEED report. Contacted firms did not immediately respond to inquiries. Representatives from project design firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture and structural engineer Thornton Tomasetti declined to comment.

As originally planned, Jeddah Tower would stand 3,281 ft tall, making it even taller than the current world’s tallest building, the 2,717-ft-tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai. By the time work stopped, an 840-ft-tall core had been constructed, ENR previously reported. The project had originally been scheduled for completion in 2019.