On a clear day, the view from the top will take in the Middle East, North Africa and the Indian Ocean – providing you’ve a head for heights. Plans for a mile-high tower in the Saudi Arabian desert have been unveiled by the billionaire owner of London’s Savoy Hotel. At 5,250ft, the £5billion project, masterminded by two British engineering consultancies, will be twice as high as its nearest rivals, skyscrapers under construction in Dubai and Kuwait, and almost seven times as high as the Canary Wharf tower in London’s Docklands. It is being planned for a new city near the Red Sea port of Jeddah. Behind the scheme is 51-year-old Prince al-Walid bin Talal, who bought the Savoy for £1.25billion in 2005. The plan gives the Middle East a clear lead over Asian countries and the U.S., who have vied in the past to construct the world’s tallest buildings. None of the other skyscrapers under construction, including New York’s Freedom Tower on the World Trade Centre site, will exceed 2,296ft. Experts say the technical challenges are enormous. Much of the lifting will be carried out by helicopters, which will also be used as commuter transport for builders.
The tower will have to be capable of withstanding a wide range of temperatures, with its top baking in the desert sun by day but dropping to well below freezing at night.
I don’t care how big it is, the damn thing is just plain F ugly. Beyond fishy, I’m leaning towards an April Fools joke on this one.
Companies building entire cities…. That has to be good.
Who was it that was saying, in a recent thread, about how ‘we’ were sapping all the resources from the middle east and leaving them in poverty? Sure seems like it to me…..
#2–Uncle Ben==that might have been our good Muslim friend “zorkor” who said the USA buying oil was “sucking their resources” for which bombing attacks was the proper arab response.
I hope he keeps posting. He could be tag-teamed with Thomas for an informed discussion on fair trade policy.
Hmm, a Saudi Prince erecting a huge penis shaped monument to himself, what would Allah think. Oh thats right, Allah’s opinion fluctuates depending on the size of your wallet and which cleric you listen too.
Isn’t it wonderful that Allah is so flexible with his moral guidance. Want to be a suicide bomber, Allah will provide 70 virgins. Want to preach the peacefulness of Koran, Allah will look the other way. Want to have sex with many women in your giant penis shaped tower of oil plunder? Allah will provide. Want to inspire new technology and innovation with your new found oil wealth and maybe, just maybe, better mankind? Allah will strike you down via a suicide bomber.
Allah fails in so many ways it doesn’t surprise me that so many losers can relate to his teachings.
None of this will matter in 30 years, the oil will be gone and large abandoned penises will dot the sands of Allah.
Looking forward to the time when the oil runs out and these places become ghost towns.
Too much money with too little brains and heat damaged to boot.
And my bet is that this uber-phallic can come down just as quickly as the WTC did courtesy of the appreciative local population of Allah’s Nutballs.
If the pic is a representation of the building I just realized that it looks like a tacky version of the Watts Towers.
wow that’s cool man. At least the world is leaving behind the bogus demo crazy country like USA in the dust. Let’s face it, USA is being forced to bite the dust in all fields. An undemocratic countries like Saudi Arabia ,china ,UAE ,Russia are growing in all fields while the worlds freedom granpa is enjoying its recession. Shame… 😉
Is the prince a Muslim version of Father Guido Sarducci?
#8–zorkor==wise words. I wish I had been born in a totalitarian state so I could also enjoy the honesty of my leadership to directly tell me in detail how to live, what to think, and so forth. Must be very liberating, in that certain Sarte Existential way.
Hey that pic isn’t an artist’s rendering of whatever this mile-high tower…it’s the new Dubai Tower….at least I think it is anyway!
But whatever…as others have said, I can’t wait until their oil runs out…that is why I say “BUY MORE SUV’S PEOPLE!!!” 🙂
AND…
I hope you bring UP the Oxygen..
THINK about it for a second…
IF’ this isnt FAKE.
YOU PAID FOR IT SUCKERS…
its a common misconception in the west that we Muslims especially need to be liberated from the same people who the USA supports. What an idiot idea. I happen to live in I e of those ” need to liberate” country and strangely no one tells me what to do ? I can get any job, do what I want with my money and keep all what I earn without a single cent in taxes. Free education health and other stuff too. All this for me and I’m not even a citizen of that country. Now how about your so called free country ?
Your money at work. He didn’t have the balls to build it 30 feet taller and make it a mile high.
And somewhere in backwoods USA.. a redneck signs up for flying lessons….
Look at the bright side, you could join the mile high club without having to fuck with TSA.
Ozymandias?
J/P=?
@ #13 satman
that made my day:)
This Piece of shit is 30′ shy of 1 Mile.
don’t these guys use the metric system anyway?
This isn’t a joke. The wing nut is serious. Should mean perpetual work for ol Zorkor.
Man! How deep are they going to have to dig for the foundation? For the sake of stability, I think they should make the base very, VERY wide, ending up with a pyramidal shape.
As for someone implying that oxygen would have to be pumped to the upper floors, well, people breathe okay in Denver (the Mile-High City), so I don’t think so.
zorkor:
I think you’ve got a misconception that the average America has a conception of what a ‘Muslim’ is or where the middle east is… if you don’t believe me, stand on any street corner, pose as a reporter, and ask them what the difference is between a Hindu and a Muslim. Then pull out a map and ask them to point to the UAE on a map…. don’t overestimate the intelligence of the ‘man on the streets’ in any country (or overstate their involvement in their governments foreign policy.
Sounds like you’ve got some anger issues my friend. Maybe it’d be worth spending a year or two in the Syria, don’t hold back, every time you have an opinion, just say it aloud or post it on the internet. I’ll sure you’ll the strong economies of totalitarian states after a few months….
…. or maybe go to Saudi Arabia and pretend to be a Christian, just to see what it’d be like to be a minority in a different country, start up a website called the Christian Council of Saudi Arabia and complain every time you think that your rights as a Christian are being trampled on….
or if that doesn’t float boat, take a trip to China, get a nice job there, and tell them you want a jug of water and a mat to pray on ….
-Ben.
Hey ben dude,
Why are you trying to tell me what to do? Would you like me to tell you what to do in the states?
How about stay on the streets and shout “hail Hitler”
or deny that any Jewish holocast happened
or say that it was the cia behind the wtc incident
Then I will see how much you will get to enjoy your freedom.