Quote:
Originally Posted by Welcome2Boise
No. They are saying that this building, when finished, may be the tallest for quite a while. I'm not so sure about that though. I can see another country trying to one-up this building just for propoganda if nothing else. And those oil barons aren't getting any poorer with falling oil prices. It's the ground level workers that take that hit.
|
This tower is probably being built with Saudi Arabia's vast government revenue windfall when oil prices were well over $100 per barrel, which went on for years. Today the price is less than half where it was, and the Saudi's oil revenues have to be dropping faster than at any point in their history. It doesn't seem likely oil prices are going to go up to where they were again, at least not for years. Building these towers is very expensive for a government, the costs go up quickly. China's property bubble is also rapidly going bust, with prices falling for nine consecutive months now, even in the big cities. Russia's economy is in the tank, South Korea's economy has lost steam.
Saudi Arabia is trying to build themselves up as quick as possible, they can see the writing on the wall. The money from the oil spigot isn't going to last forever. They either have to build now or don't build. Same with Dubai, from what they say. That's partly why your seeing a sudden and sustained explosion in development. They want to make sure they have a backup to their oil economies, or they will be lost in the stack. These are not religious or imperial mechas going up, they're western style financial cities.
Unless Dubai wants to build yet another world's tallest, despite their first bubble going bust. All the small Arab states are seeing their oil revenues fall, its not just Saudi Arabia...who was the most successful of the bunch. I'm not sure its going to happen for a long time. But do expect the US to pick up some lost ground in the lull, maybe even decades out.
Prev
Linear Mode
