The construction of what has been billed as Africa’s tallest building has started in Nairobi giving whispers that the capital city could be Africa’s Dubai.
Two large Dubai-based investors, Hass Petroleum and White Lotus formally started the construction of the eye-popping skyscraper on May 23rd at Upperhill.
The construction consists of two towers, with the taller one rising some 300 metres high and has been named as “The Pinnacle”. It however does not come close to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai which is the world’s tallest building at 828 metres high.
One of the towers will contain a 45 floor Hilton hotel; the other, some 200 high end fully furnished luxury apartments ran by the Hilton Hotel. These will include one bedroom, two bedrooms, and three bed-roomed units.
The towers will include five floors of shopping, entertainment, and restaurants plus a health spa, gym and an infinity pool.
The taller tower will also have a helipad on the roof allowing allowing helicopters for those wishing to escape the Nairobi traffic jam to and from the airport to land.
The investments is expected to top $220million (Sh22.73billion) by the time it is complete.
The investment comes at a time when new suburban housing estates are flourishing at the edge of Nairobi city even though not everyone is confident that it can last.
Few NGO workers are lavishly paid—and none is likely to need a helipad so the viability of the project is yet to be determined.
