Mick Hartley

Women can’t drive, and unrelated people of the opposite sex can’t meet in private, but in Saudi Arabia they’re planning the world’s tallest building:

Gulf states, flush with proceeds from record high oil prices, are racing to build the world’s tallest tower.

The Kingdom has just joined the fray with a plan to build a one-mile tower in Jeddah, according to the London-based Middle East Economic Digest (MEED).

The project, which would overtake super-tall skyscrapers in neighboring Kuwait and Dubai, places the competition to build the world’s tallest tower firmly in the Gulf region.

Of all the other high-profile buildings under construction around the globe, such as New York’s Freedom Tower, none will exceed 700 meters in height.

Riyadh-based Kingdom Holding Company, which is controlled by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, will invite bids before July for contracts to build the tower in Jeddah.

Called the Burj Al-Meel or the Mile-High Tower, it will be located on the northern side of the Obhur Creek and the Red Sea. It will be spread over an area of more than two million square meters.

MEED said that although there is still secrecy over which companies are involved with the project, it is believed that Britain’s Hyder Consulting is working in a joint venture with Arup, as engineer on the project, which is expected to cost up to $10 billion. US engineering giant Bechtel has been chosen as construction manager for the project. Saudi firm Omrania is the project architect.

Kuwait has unveiled a plan to build a 1,001-meter tower. Its height is a reference to the classic work of Arabic literature, “One Thousand and One Nights.” […]

But both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have their work cut out if they are to steal a march on Dubai, a bustling member of the UAE.

The emirate’s Burj Dubai, Arabic for Dubai Tower, overtook Taiwan’s Taipei 101 tower as the world’s tallest building when it reached 512 meters in July. Burj Dubai’s height is now over 600 meters.

Although its final height remains a closely guarded secret, developers Emaar Properties have said the one-billion-dollar skyscraper will be more than 700 meters tall and have more than 160 stories.

Burj Dubai is the centerpiece of a $20-billion venture featuring the construction of a new district, Downtown Burj Dubai, that will house 30,000 apartments and the world’s largest shopping mall.

But Burj Dubai is facing competition on its own turf.

Dubai’s other property development major, Nakheel, has announced it will build Al-Burj or The Tower, whose projected height has not been revealed but which, according to local press reports, is planned to overtake Burj Dubai.