Saudi Arabia and the rich Gulf States are in a race to build the world’s tallest building. With oil revenues at an all-time high, coffers are bursting and local rulers want to spend billions of dollars to raise architectural giants.

Dubai (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Gulf States are racing for the tallest building and Saudi Arabia is planning an incredible mile-high skyscraper in the city of Jeddah for the “modest” sum of US$ 10 billion. News about the plan was reported by Middle East Economic Digest but a veil of secrecy covers the whole project, including the names of the building companies involved.

Kuwait has also unveiled a plan to build a 1,001-metre tower. Its height is a reference to the classic work of Arabic literature, One Thousand and One Nights.

The monumental tower will rise in the city of Subbiya on the northern border with Iraq and be completed by 2030.

A mosque, a church and a synagogue will be built near the top of the tower to signify the unity of the three monotheistic religions.

Such monumental projects are possible thanks to the rise in oil prices.

But whilst as building the planned towers might be engineering masterpieces, there are those who have doubts about their usefulness.

“These new projects push architecture and engineering to new limits, though it's also possible to create buildings and landmarks that aren't that high, but are viable and, most important, beautiful,” Allan Chamberlin, an Australian Dubai-based architect, told Agence France Presse.

In an environmentally-conscious age, many Gulf States have adopted laws requiring builders to meet high environmental standards in new mega-buildings. But Chamberlin still asks: “Do we really need to build it?”

• saudi
• arabia
• gulf
• states
• kuwait
• subbiya
• mega-skyscrapers
• environmental
• standards
• consciousness