Beijing to build 122-storey skyscraper by 2015

BEIJING: A 122-floor skyscraper is expected to be built in Beijing's Central Business District, making itself the highest in the Chinese capital, Xinhua news agency cited a local daily as saying on Thursday, Dec 23.

The skyscraper will serve as an office building and also house apartments and a hotel. The underground area will be used as a commercial area and connect with other underground commercial space in the neighbourhood.

The 500-metre-tall building will take five years to complete, and will stand on a site, which was sold at an auction for US$948.15 million (RM2.95 billion) on Dec 21, the newspaper cited the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Land and Resource as saying.

Currently, the city's tallest building is China World Trade Centre Tower 3, which is 330 metres tall.

The Citic Group, which now has usage rights to the land after winning the bidding, plans to build the skyscraper that will have four underground levels and call it Zhongguo Zun (Chinese goblet). — Bernama