The Saudi city of Jeddah is officially set to become home to the world's tallest skyscraper, the Jeddah Tower, despite several setbacks.
According to Arab News, real estate developers overseeing the project have recently signed a 620-million Saudi riyal ($165 million) contract for infrastructure work at the site, indicating that the work remains in progress.
Speaking to CNN, the developer behind the skyscraper, Jeddah Economic Company, confirmed that the project is still on schedule and will be completed by 2020.
The infrastructure contract has been signed with local Al-Fouzan General Contracting Co., which plans to complete the work within one year.
After first being launched in 2013, the project has encountered several roadblocks that have delayed its progress.
In November 2017, two of the project's top investors - billionaire businessman Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and chairman of Jeddah Tower's construction company, Bakr Bin Laden - were arrested as part of the kingdom's crackdown on corruption.
The purge saw several princes, ministers, businessmen, and politicians be detained under orders from an anti-corruption committee headed by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Still, the recent move has confirmed that the project will go ahead as planned, despite the arrests.
Jeddah Economic Company CEO Mounib Hammoud told Arab News that implementing the advanced infrastructure is considered "an essential step in positioning this mega development as a world-class project."
Here's a look at the groundbreaking future tower
As of late 2017, the tower was 252 meters high and already had broad views of the kingdom, according to CNN, which released a video capturing the construction site last week.
Based in Jeddah Economic City, the Jeddah Tower is planned to stand at 1,000 meters, surpassing the world's current tallest tower, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, by 72 meters.
This comes as part of the Jeddah Economic City project, a commercial and residential project that will feature homes, hotels, offices, along with touristic sites.
"Before (the tower) was here, this was not considered a place that people would live," Hisham Jomah, chief development officer of Jeddah Economic Company, told CNN.
"Jeddah is going to be repositioned on the international scene of modern cities," he added. "You speak about downtown Dubai - and now we're going to have downtown Jeddah."