The Saudi developer behind plans for the world‘s tallest building said Sunday it had secured financing to complete the record-breaking project

The Saudi developer behind plans for the world‘s tallest building said Sunday it had secured financing to complete the record-breaking project

Kingdom Holding Co， chaired by billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal， said its affiliate Jeddah Economic Company had reached a more than $2 billion （1.9 billion euro） financing deal with Saudi Arabia‘s Alinma Investment to finish the Jeddah Tower in the Red Sea city

Previously dubbed ‘Kingdom Tower’， the 170-storey building is to rise more than a kilometre， surpassing Dubai‘s Burj Khalifa as the world’s highest building

The Burj Khalifa， by comparison， stands at 2，716 feet。 New York City‘s Freedom Tower， currently the fifth tallest in the world， is dwarf-like at 1，792 feet

‘Alinma Bank will finance the fund， to be managed by Alinma Investment， while Jeddah Economic Company will be the master developer of projects that will draw on the fund’s credit lines，‘ the statement said

Alwaleed said a year ago that the tower， which will feature a hotel， apartments and offices， was slated for completion in 2018

At that time the four-storey foundations of the building were finished and Alwaleed said ‘now we are on the verge of building a floor every four days’

That pace would have put the skyscraper at around 90 floors now， but the statement on Sunday said it is ‘currently at its 26th floor’

The tower will feature a stunning viewing deck allowing visitors to walk around an ‘air park’