Samsung C&T to Construct Tallest Building in Southeast Asia

Samsung C&T (CEO Choi Chi-hoon) announced on Oct. 27 that it has landed a US$842 million (954.41 billion won) deal called the “KL 118 Tower” project commissioned by PNB Merdeka Ventures Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s state-run investment firm PNB.

The building in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, will have 118 floors above ground and five below, with a total area of 673,862 square meters. It will be a complex facility that hosts office spaces and hotel guestrooms. It will take 49 months to be completed by Dec. 2019. Samsung C&T will work with local contractor UEM in a consortium to generally manage the construction work, including quality and safety management. With a total cost of US$842 million (954.41 billion won), the share of Samsung C&T will be US$505 million (572.42 billion won), or 60 percent in total.

With a height of 644 meters, it will be Malaysia’s tallest building and the world’s third-tallest building when it is completed in 2019.

Samsung C&T outbid other rivals from China and the United Arab Emirates based on its technical expertise and the experience of successfully building high-rise structures like the Burj Khalifa, the world’s highest 162-floor skyscraper in Dubai, the U.A.E., and Petronas Tower, an 88-floor skyscraper in Malaysia.

With the KL 118 Tower project, Samsung C&T is establishing a solid foothold as a global construction company in the Malaysian market. Currently, the company is carrying out a total of four construction projects – two plant construction and two building construction deals – worth US$1.5 billion (1.7 trillion won) in Malaysia.