Contruction starts on twin skyscrapers in southern China

Building has begun on one of two 104-story skyscrapers planned for southern China that will be among the mainland's tallest buildings, state media said Wednesday. The first of the two Zhujiang New City Twin Towers in Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province, is expected to be completed in 2010, the China Daily newspaper said. The project will cost more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.23 billion; Ђ1.04 billion), the paper said. The Zhujiang towers will measure 432 meters (1,417 feet), taller than China's current tallest building, the 421-meter (1,381-foot) Jinmao Tower in Shanghai.

But the towers will be shorter than the 101-story, 1,614-foot-tall Shanghai World Financial Center currently under construction and slated to be finished in 2008, reports the AP. I.L.