Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has reached out to contractors as part of a market-sounding exercise for the construction of the proposed 2km megatall tower project.

MEED understands that a PIF subsidiary, the Tower District Real Estate Development Company, is undertaking the process.

It is understood that several experienced international contractors, as well as some prominent local contractors, have been approached.

The latest development follows PIF receiving offers in June last year from firms seeking a contract to provide project management consultancy (PMC) services for a new central business district (CBD) on the outskirts of Riyadh, which includes the proposed 2km tower.

The PMC role covers both the tower and the surrounding district.

Firms understood to have been invited to bid include US-based Aecom, Jacobs, Parsons and Turner, as well as the UK’s Mace.

UK-based Foster & Partners is working as the architect for the tower after winning a design competition launched in late 2022.

The proposed tower would be more than double the height of the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which stands 828m tall. It is expected to be at least several hundred metres taller than the 1,000m-plus tower under construction in Jeddah.

Contractors that have priced megatall towers in the region say a 2km-tall structure could cost about $5bn to construct, depending on the final design.

The 2km tower and the surrounding CBD – known as Project Rise – sit within a larger masterplanned development to the north of Riyadh called the North Pole.

This article originally appreaed on MEED, part of GlobalData MEdia.