News is still awaited on the outcome of the bidding process to restart construction works on the Jeddah Tower project, which was proposed to be the world’s tallest tower with a design height of 1,000-plus m, taller than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa by more than 172m.

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 sq m.

A consortium of Saudi contractor El Seif Engineering and Beijing-based China State Construction Engineering Corp is reported to be the frontrunner for the contract to build the tower, an ambitious project by the Kingdom Holding Company.

The Kingdom Tower was one-third complete when work stopped in 2018.

Besides the El Seif consortium, bidders for the project include Lebanon’s Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC); and Kuwait’s Mohammed Abdulmohsin Al Kharafi & Sons with support from international partners.

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

El Seif, one of Saudi Arabia’s most active contracting companies, was the contractor for the Kingdom Centre in Riyadh. Last year, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) had acquired a 25 per cent stake in the firm to support its growth, stated the report.

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, it added.

The developer Jeddah Economic Company (JEC) had sought bids by the end of last year from 14 leading construction groups to complete the project, according to reports.

Jeddah Tower will be the first skyscraper in the world to reach a height in excess of 1 km (168 floors from the ground). The construction work for the tower’s superstructure, which began in the early 2010s with the local Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) as the contractor, is one-third complete.