Morocco Building Africa’s Tallest Skyscraper
King Mohammed VI has launched the construction work of a 55 floor-tower, which will host luxury apartments and hotels with a total designed floor space of 86,000 square meters and a viewing terrace at the top.
The skyscraper dubbed “Mohammed VI Tower” will reach 984 feet and will be the tallest in Africa. The tower, to cost Morocco’s BMCE Bank around $314 million, is being built by construction firms Belgian BESIX Group, Chinese CRCCI and Travaux Generaux de Construction de Casablanca (TGCC).
“Mohammed VI Tower” is meant to be an impressive icon in the urban and economic, cultural and touristic landscape of Morocco and will be adopting ecological and sustainable design concepts.
The tower is at the center of a wider Bouregreg Valley Development project, part of Rabat’s modernization program called Rabat Ville Lumière, Capitale Marocaine de la Culture (Rabat, City of Light, Moroccan Capital of Culture).
This includes other major urban developments, including the Maison des Arts et de la Culture (House of Arts and Culture) and Le Grand Théâtre de Rabat.
The Mohammed VI tower is owned by one of Morocco’s top billionaires, Othmane Benjelloun, through his Paris-based money management firm, FinanceCom Asset Management.
BMCE bank is the largest in Africa with operations in more than 20 countries. Its CEO Benjelloun is also planning to build a 30-story rocket-shaped tower that will loom over Casablanca.
The other associate in the tower construction, BESIX group, has worked on other state-of-the-art projects in Africa and the Middle East, including the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi and the Four Seasons Hotel in Manama, Bahrain.
