Featured Image Credit: Dar Al-Handasah
Saudi Arabia loves a good megaproject, and alongside the ambitious NEOM Project, we've got Riyadh's Mukaab as the largest building in the world, and grand plans for the world's biggest hotel.
Supposedly boasting 10,000 rooms and 70 restaurants, spread over 45 floors, Abraj Kudai is due to dominate the Mecca skyline.
The problem is, it looks increasingly like it'll never open its doors.
Unveiled in 2015, Abraj Kudai was a colossal Saudi project that was supposed to surpass the current record holder, dwarfing Malaysia's First World Hotel and its 7,351 rooms. In terms of actual size, Las Vegas' MGM Grand is technically the 'biggest', despite only having 6,852 rooms.
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Abraj Kudai was designed by architectural firm Dar Al-Handasah, with some $3.5 billion supposedly being sunk into the project, and it due to stretch for a whopping 1.4 million square meters with 12 towers and four helipads.
Sadly, that initial announcement has been forgotten in a dustball of controversy, with Abraj Kudai being put on hold for a tragic reason.
Planting the world's biggest hotel in the middle of the holy Mecca wasn't the main issue, but for the many practising Muslims who visit the area, they report nothing that looks like the original artist's renderings of Abraj Kudai.
A decade on from its announcement, and with a 2017 opening originally pencilled in, the hotel remains little more than a construction site.
The crux of the issue is down to a tragic crane collapse in 2015. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Finance owns the Abraj Kudai project and is a prime customer of The Saudi Binladin Group (SBL).
This construction giant was blamed for the crane that fell into Mecca's Grand Mosque in Mecca and claimed 107 lives. In the aftermath, SBL was banned "from receiving new state contracts altogether," while the construction giant is also affected directly by the government's actions. When oil prices started to tumble, the Saudi government opted to "cancel or suspend projects and delay payments."
With this, Abraj Kudai went ghostly quiet.
It's not like the custom isn't there, as a 2025 article from The Telegraph explains that 1.8 million Muslims made the annual Hajj pilgrimage in 2024, marking a 36% increase on the year before.
Apparently, Mecca also outpaces Las Vegas in terms of hotel rooms, now boasting 227,000 beds.
Despite the West stalling SBL's growth due to Osama bin Laden being the son of the company's founder, the Binladin Group has remained close to the Saudi royals and enjoyed great success in the country.
Still, the 2017 arrest of the Group's founder, Bakr bin Laden, as part of an anti-corruption purge, led to him handing over a massive stake to the Saudi government. Swirling rumors of financial troubles behind the scenes have also led to reports that Jeddah's record-breaking skyscraper has also stalled, all as SBL remains quiet on its accounts.
The last update came toward the end of 2024, with Maytas Infra Saudi Arabia announced as a new contractor. The Telegraph says requests for comment on the status of Abraj Kudai went unanswered, leaving this as another megaproject that might've bitten off more than it can chew.
