Bin Laden family-owned group to build Africa's highest tower

Rabat, Dec 3 (IANS/EFE) A construction group owned by the family of Osama bin Laden is to build a 514-metre high tower in Casablanca, the economic capital of Morocco that will be the tallest on the African continent.

The project by the Saudi Alturki Holding Group represents a total investment of $1.5 billion and will be sited in the downtown area of Anfa City.

Executive director Osama el-Husseiny said the latest technologies would be applied in building the 114-storey tower and noted that the number of floors was identical to the number of chapters in the Quran.

The group is also planning to construct a 250-hectare modern city in Bouskoura, south of Casablanca, according to the firm's executive director.

He said he regretted that the Gulf states' investment in the North African country has fallen off, but said this could be remedied through contacts between investors on both sides and by opening a joint chamber of commerce.

Trade between Morocco and the Gulf countries reached $2.6 billion in 2013, of which 80 percent came from Saudi Arabia, according to the latest figures released by the Moroccan Foreign Exchange Office.

--IANS/EFE

vr