Saudi Arabia Wants To Surpass The Burj Khalifa Twice Over With 1.24-Mile Tower

It seems like the sky’s the limit with Saudi Arabia’s plans to surpass the Burj Khalifa with a new world’s tallest tower.
 
Currently, the Burj Khalifa rises above the city at 828 meters (2,716 feet), but the proposed plan is looking to beat the current holder of the record by more than twice its height.

If all goes according to plan, the future tower in the city of Riyadh is said to come in at a staggering 2 km (1.24 miles) and take up an area of 6.9 square miles, according to Middle East business intelligence (MEED) magazine. Additionally, estimated to cost $5 billion to construct.
 
The country is hosting a design competition with a participation fee of $1 million to prepare for the structure. According to the source, eight companies worldwide have been asked to compete. The Kingdom chose these firms based on work they had previously done on famous landmarks and other mega infrastructures.
 
The tower is being built with a master-planned airport slated to be ready by 2030. Once completed, the airport will cover 22 square miles with six parallel runways and accommodate the highest passenger quantity in the world. 
 
In other parts of the Kingdom, the megacity NEOM is underway, where future visitors will find a ski resort in the desert and a 105-mile-long city held within mirrored walls known as The Line.
 
 
 
[via Interesting Engineering and Construction Week Online, Photo 171679350 © Tampatra1 | Dreamstime.com]