SEP 7 1999

Petronas will stand tallest for a few more years

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia will hold the title of the country with the
world's tallest buildings for several years more, said the US architect
who designed the Petronas Twin Towers.

Argentinian-born Cesar Pelli, 73, said he intended to bask in
the glory of knowing that challengers to the title seemed to have faltered.

He noted that work on a building planned in Shanghai, China,
by a Japanese developer had stopped for two years and alleged
that another contender in Melbourne, Australia, was simply
seeking publicity.

"The Petronas Twin Towers will be the tallest in this millennium.
Anything else coming up can only be completed in four or five years ."
No stranger to record-breaking tall buildings, Mr Pelli's
much-acclaimed Canary Wharf Tower is Britain's tallest at 244 m.

The Twin Towers was his first project in South-east Asia.

He said he had not designed them to be the world's tallest buildings,
but they became so due to consultant engineer J. Thornton
of Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers.

Mr Thornton had realised that the Twin Towers were only slightly
shorter than Chicago's Sears Tower and suggested to Mr Pelli
that they could top the then-world's-tallest building.

-- The Star/Asia News Network

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