Taiwan unveils World's Tallest building
Pakistan Times Wire Service

TAIPEI (Taiwan): Taiwan Friday unveiled the world's tallest building, Taipei 101, after six years of construction and hailed the 508-meter (1,676 feet) skyscraper for resisting several powerful earthquakes in recent years.

"Taipei 101 has been through the challenges of the September 21 and March 31 quakes," said President Chen Shui-bian at the opening ceremony. "The glory and success of Taipei didn't belong to one single mayor but all of the citizens," he added.

Chen oversaw the start of Taiwan's largest engineering project when he was mayor of Taipei in 1998. Taiwan's worst tremor, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, struck in September 1999, leaving some 2,400 people dead.

Another strong quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit on March 31 2002, killing at least four.

The light green building, the brainchild of Taiwan's noted architect C.Y. Lee, looks like petals of a flower unfolding or sections of a bamboo rising from the ground.

Its structure is based on steel with reinforced concrete. The exterior wall is a glass curtain with double glazed heat reduction clear glass.

Construction cost 58 billion Taiwan dollars (1.8 billion US) and was financed by the Taipei Financial Center Corp. Last year a five- storey shopping mall opened at the base of the building, which also features the world's fastest passenger elevators capable of travelling at 1,014 meters (3,346 feet) per minute.

It takes just 37 seconds from the fifth floor to the observatory on the 89th floor. Tourism officials hailed Taipei 101 as the capital city's new landmark and said it would prove to be a must-see for tourists traveling to the island.

Currently 33 percent of the building's 198,000 square meters office space has been contracted, largely by multinational and leading domestic enterprises.

Eventually there will be some 12,000 people working in thebuilding, which is located in Taipei's bustling Hsinyi district.●