China, Saudi Arabia plan Burj Khalifa replica

Saudi Arabia will help China build a $1.3bn luxury hotel modelled on Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, according to newspaper reports from Beijing.

The People’s Daily Online quoted a senior official as saying that graphics and planning of the ‘seven-star’ hotel had already been completed.

The announcement was made at a press conference on Wednesday.

Wang Hongzhong, chief official of the rural Mentougou district, where the project is based, said that it had been designed as a “streamlined building like the Khalifa Tower in Dubai”.

No further details about Saudi Arabia’s role in the project, or a potential completion date, were provided. 

The Burj Khalifa, at 828m the tallest building in the world, was opened in Dubai in January last year. It anchors the 500-acre Downtown Dubai master-planned community developed by Emaar.

The cost of the project was around $1.5bn.