The Dubai Tower is reportedly the tallest building in the world nearing completion

Dubai - The construction of the Burj Dubai tower in the metropolitan area of the United Arab Emirates has reached the 141st floor and a height of 512 meters a year and a half before its completion, making it the tallest building in the world. Local builders announced this today. Once completed at the end of 2008, this skyscraper is expected to have over 160 floors and soar to a height of more than 700 meters.
    The current tallest building in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records since 2004, is the Taiwanese skyscraper Taipei 101, which stands at 508 meters with 101 floors.
    The AP agency noted that the report from Dubai must still be confirmed by independent sources, and a special international construction institution based in Chicago must verify whether the structure meets all criteria for the tallest buildings. Builders expressed confidence that their Dubai tower meets the internationally established criteria.
    The Burj Dubai is being constructed with international participation. Architects and engineers are from the United States, the main contractor is from South Korea, security consultants are from Australia, and a Singaporean expert is involved in the interior design. Czech elevators from the Pardubice company Pega Hoist are also part of the construction. Among the thousands of workers, many are Indians. According to AP, there is essentially only one designer from Dubai.
    The construction budget is reportedly over 20 billion dollars (408.41 billion crowns). The project also includes several other, shorter adjacent skyscrapers set among winding water canals and a massive shopping center. The skyscraper will also house the six-star Armani Hotel of renowned Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani, as well as private apartments and offices.
    The silvery building of glass and steel, however, is being built in Dubai primarily for prestige reasons. Among other things, it aims to restore the honor of the Middle East as the home of the tallest building in the world - a title that the region lost at the end of the 19th century when the Parisian Eiffel Tower, standing at 312 meters, ended the 4000-year reign of the 147-meter-high Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, added AP.