Posted on 09 Dec 2022
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has invited companies for a design competition to build a 2km-tall tower as part of an 18km2 master planned development to the north of Riyadh, west of the existing King Khalid International airport, Kallanish learns.
The proposed tower will be more than double the height of the world’s tallest building – Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which is 828 metres tall and used some 40,000 tonnes of rebar. Contractors that have priced mega-tall towers in the region say that, depending on the final design, a 2km-tall structure could cost about $5 billion to construct, according to Meed.
A design competition with a participation fee of $1 million is underway for the record-breaking tower, and eight firms have been invited to participate in the contest.
The Saudi government is keen on localisation and prefers to award locally registered companies. Saudi construction output is expected to grow in 2022, 2023 and 2024 by 3.23%, 3.48% and 4.52%, respectively (see Kallanish passim).
The steel industry in Saudi Arabia closely monitors similar Giga projects to meet their steel requirements. Saudi Arabia is the fourth-largest direct reduced iron producer in the world with 6.4 million tonnes output in 2021. It has excessive rebar production but is a net flat steel importer, particularly for thin gauges of hot rolled coil.
Source:Kallanish
