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A frontrunner has emerged for the contract to complete the construction of the world’s tallest tower, the 1,000-metre-plus Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia.

Kingdom Holding Company CEO Talal Ibrahim Almaiman confirmed to MEED that bids have been submitted and a contract award is expected imminently.

Almaiman said the bidders are a joint venture of the local El Seif Engineering & Contracting and Beijing-based China State Construction Engineering Corporation; Lebanon’s Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC); and Kuwait’s Mohammed Abdulmohsin Al Kharafi & Sons with support from international partners.

Chinese team

Other sources close to the project have said that the joint venture of El Seif and China State is understood to be the frontrunner for the contract.

El Seif is one of Saudi Arabia’s most active contracting companies. It was the contractor for the Kingdom Centre in Riyadh, where Kingdom Holding’s office is located. Last year, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) acquired a 25% stake in the contractor to support its growth.

The Riyadh-based contractor has a working relationship with China State, with the two companies delivering projects in the kingdom, including the Diriyah development in Riyadh.

China State is one of the world’s largest construction companies. The company has also completed a wide range of high-rise buildings globally, with two considered megatall as they are over 600 metres in height. They are the 610-metre-tall Canton Tower and the 600-metre-tall Shenzhen Ping An Financial Centre.

In the Middle East region, it was the contractor for high-rise buildings such as the NBK headquarters building in Kuwait. It is the contractor for various towers in Dubai, including the Cavalli Tower in the Dubai Marina area. It is also the contractor for 393.8-metre-tall Iconic tower at the New Administrative Capital in Egypt, which is Africa’s tallest tower.

When completed, Jeddah Tower will be taller than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa by more than 172 metres. It is the centrepiece of the Jeddah Economic City development. The project’s first phase, which includes the main tower, covers an area of 1.5 million square metres.

READ MORE: Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Tower reaches for new heights

MEED's April 2024 special report on Saudi Arabia includes:

> GVT & ECONOMY: Saudi Arabia seeks diversification amid regional tensions
> BANKING: Saudi lenders gear up for corporate growth
> UPSTREAM: Aramco spending drawdown to jolt oil projects
> DOWNSTREAM: Master Gas System spending stimulates Saudi downstream sector
> POWER: Riyadh to sustain power spending
> WATER: Growth inevitable for the Saudi water sector
> CONSTRUCTION: Saudi gigaprojects propel construction sector
> TRANSPORT: Saudi Arabia’s transport sector offers prospects