Malaysia on Tuesday completed the tower spire of the building that’s set to become the world’s second-tallest skyscraper.

The Merdeka 118 will reach a height of 678.9 meters when completed in 2022, the tallest structure after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The project will be an economic catalyst for the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said at a ceremony.

The development comes just as a new Covid-19 variant prompted Malaysia’s government to pause the transition to the endemic phase of the outbreak until it obtains more data on the strain. Malaysia and Singapore on Monday opened land and air vaccinated travel lanes, with plan to further reopen their borders.

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