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Jeddah Economic Company (JEC) has restarted work on the world’s tallest tower, the 1,000-metre-plus-tall Jeddah Tower project in Saudi Arabia.

“The tower will be more than 1,000 metres tall, and it is back in full motion,” a source close to the project told MEED.

The developer has invited contractors to bid by the end of this year for a contract to complete the record-breaking structure. Kingdom Holding Company CEO Talal Ibrahim Almaiman confirmed that the tender has been officially issued when contacted by MEED.

The companies that have been invited to bid for the contract include:

• Almabani (local)
• Bawani (local)
• China Harbour (China)
• China State Construction Engineering Corporation (China)
• Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC – Lebanon)
• El-Seif Engineering Contracting (local)
• Hyundai Engineering Construction (South Korea)
• Mohammed Abdulmohsin al-Kharafi & Sons (Kuwait)
• Nesma & Partners (local)
• Powerchina (China)
• Samsung C+T (South Korea)
• Saudi Freyssinet (local)
• Skanska (Sweden)
• Strabag (Europe)

The contractors have been given three months to prepare their bids, and the companies are expected to form joint ventures comprising local and international partners. It is understood that contractors have visited the site.

JEC commissioned an independent assessment of the structure before the tender was issued.

The foundations and piling work for the record-breaking tower are complete.

The construction work for the superstructure of the tower, which began in the early 2010s with the local Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) as the contractor, is one-third complete.

Germany’s Bauer completed the piling work for the tower.

Bond call

JEC has called the performance guarantees or bonds provided by SBG. A source close to the project said that the value of the bonds totals SR653m ($174m).

Almaiman confirmed that the developer has exercised its rights under the contract after giving the contractor five years to re-engage.

While SBG is no longer working as the contractor on the project, the consultancy team remains the same. The architect is US-based Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill, and the engineering consultant is Lebanon’s Dar al-Handasah (Shair & Partners).

The shareholders in JEC are Kingdom Holding Company with a 40 per cent stake, Bakhsh Group with a 40 per cent stake, and Sharbatly Group with a 20 per cent share.

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 square kilometres.

Jeddah Tower will be the world's tallest building once completed, surpassing
Dubai's Burj Khalifa by more than 172 metres

By March 2017, construction on the tower had reached level 50

Images: Jeddah Economic Company; Dar al-Handasah. Construction images from 2017.