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Jeddah Tower (Arabic: برج جدة), previously known as Kingdom Tower (برج المملكة) and Mile-High Tower (برج الميل), is a skyscraper under construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at a preliminary cost of SR4.6 billion (US$1.23 billion). If completed in 2020 as planned, the Jeddah Tower will reach an unprecedented height, becoming the tallest building in the world as well as the first structure to reach the one-kilometre-high mark.
It is the centerpiece and the first phase of an SR75 billion (US$20 billion) proposed development known as Jeddah Economic City that will be located along the Red Sea on the north side of Jeddah. The development of Jeddah Tower seeks to bring great changes in terms of development and tourism to the city of Jeddah, which is considered the most liberal city in Saudi Arabia.
Initially planned to be 1.6 km (1 mile) high, the geology of the area proved unsuitable for a tower of that height. The design, created by American architect Adrian Smith, who also designed Burj Khalifa, incorporates many unique structural and aesthetic features. The creator and leader of the project is Saudi Arabian prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, the wealthiest man in the Middle East, a grandson of Ibn Saud, and nephew of the Kings of Saudi Arabia before him. Al-Waleed is the chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), which is a partner in the Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), which was formed in 2009 for the development of Jeddah Tower and City.
Reception of the proposal has been highly polarized; it has received high praise from some as a culturally significant icon that will symbolize the nation's wealth and power, while others question its socioeconomic motives, and forecast that it will have negative financial consequences.
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