Plans to build a desalination plant to save Melbourne from the grips of drought are in trouble as Australia battles economic recession.

Sourcing finance for big ticket infrastructure items such as the AU$3.1bn plant are drying up almost as fast as the land down under.

Bankers have told media the project faces a funding gap of between AU$1bn and $2bn and that there is just $300m to $500m available from banks for major projects across the country.

The desalination plant is planned for a Melbourne beach and is to built as part of a public private partnership (PPP) with up-front funding from private operators.

Bass Water (led by French company Veolia) and Aquasure (led by French company Degremont) are in the running for the contract to build it and a winner is to be announced mid-2009.

This excellent article in major broadsheet newspaper The Age suggests the plant might die and take its major supporter state premier John Brumby with it.

The newspaper also reports that the federal and state governments are now looking at emergency plans to shore up PPPs struggling across the wide, brown land.

Someone once said Fridays are a good day to break bad news because people have the weekend to vent and do things to cheer themselves up.

In keeping with that (probably) misguided nugget of information, here are the top 15 skyscrapers on hold.

It seems to be a bit of a who's who of interesting projects including the Chicago Spire, Moscow Tower - which was to be the tallest tower in Europe - and the zany 56 Leonard Street in New York.

Dubai takes a particular hit with its' dancing towers (now named Signature Towers and pictured on this post) iced as well as Dubai Towers and more.

Check out the full list at Oobject and don't shoot the messenger.

Today's casualty of the economic crisis comes to us courtesy of New York City.

Boston Properties, the biggest owner and developer of office space in the States, has pulled the plug on a 39-storey skyscraper it had started work on in Hell's Kitchen.

Builders working on the foundation of the sheer glass tower at 250 West 55th Street will be told to stop work after a key tenant pulled out of the project.

It seems the law firm that Boston Properties had lined up to lease almost half of the building pulled out weeks before the deal was expected to be signed off and - this has got to hurt - after a full year of negotiations!

Work will be suspended and it is not known when it will restart.

Interestingly, this project hit a speed bump earlier in its life when one property owner wouldn't give Boston Properties access to his building so the tower could go up.

Read about the cat fight here!

In a competition only open to billionaire developers, the Burj Dubai has seen off early efforts from Saudi Arabia's royal family to build a skyscraper taller than the 800m plus tower.

The Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), which is owned by Saudi Arabia's royal family, has shelved plans to build a skyscraper to rival the Burj.

In October the company announced it would build the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah but that the final height was a secret and would be well over 1km high.

But sources now say the tower is on hold after KHC lost £5.6bn in the fourth quarter of 2008 due to the downturn in equity markets.

Project manager Bechtel is in the process of ending its involvement with the project.

It is unknown how long the development will be delayed.

The 612m Russia Tower planned for Moscow could be scaled down to just 200m on the orders of officials who want construction work restarted.

Work on the super tall skyscraper - to be the tallest in Europe - was suspended in November 2008 due to financial woes associated with the economic crisis.

But Moscow mayor Yury Luuzhkov has told investors that he wants work to restart this year - worldwide economic crisis or not.

According to the Moscow Times, a decision to speed up work on the tower but limit its size was made at a closed Moscow City Council meeting last week.

Shalva Chigirinsky, of the developer Russian Land, would not reveal who would be redesigning the project.

Foster + Partners were the original architects on the job and have refused to comment.

It will be a shame for architecture if this landmark building is scaled down, but good for the construction industry struggling to survive during the downturn.

Below is a video of the original plans.

Work on what would have been the world's tallest building, standing more than 1km high, has been put on ice for at least a year.

In a move that suggests the property bubble has finally popped in Dubai, government-owned developer Nakheel said it was halting "further work" on the building's foundations.

It is not known just how much work has already been completed.

"This is part of our readjustment of our immediate business plans to better reflect the current market trends and match supply with demand," Nakheel said in a statement.

It is a bitter blow for the firm, which has also downed tools on the Trump Tower and International Hotel in December and delayed work on projects including Frond N villas, Gateway Towers and schemes at the Waterfront and the Palm Jebel Ali.

The New York Times says the world's hottest property market - Dubai - has gone cold and that this could be the beginning of a big property slide in the emirate.

In reality though, the curse of the skyscraper index strikes again!

Despite what Asia is describing as a "financial tsunami", work is well underway on the construction of the tallest tower in China's Shenzen.

The 439m skyscraper will dubiously be named Kingkey Financial Centre (try saying that quickly) and soar above the city's financial district when finished in 2010.

Designed by Terry Farrell and Partners, the un-kinky design features a slim-line, luminous glass tower that tapers to an arched peak.

It will feature the usual shops and offices we always see but the top four floors will feature a sky garden for visitors.

Work on the buildings foundations have started and next year should see the tower start to rise from the ground - provided Asia's credit-crunch tsunami doesn't take the city with it.

It isn't turning out to be the best year for mega-rich, hair-challenged celebrity property tycoon Donald Trump.

When he isn't rubbing $100 bills into his hair or pondering the state of the world on his gold toilet, he's watching the property market plummet faster than his skyscrapers can go up.

His latest venture - the Trump Tower and International Hotel in Dubai - has been delayed as developer Nakheel reigns in its spending.

The tower was to be the centrepiece of Palm Jumeriah and ultra-posh. One buyer offered US$3,000 per square foot for a penthouse in the building.

But it seems Nakheel is feeling the impact of the economic downturn and will also delay work on projects including Frond N villas, Gateway Towers and schemes at the Waterfront and the Palm Jebel Ali.

It isn't the first Trump project hit by the downturn in recent times. Trump is also in trouble in Chicago where he is building another super-tall building.

US president-elect Barack Obama is about to go on a construction spending spree, building new schools, bridges, roads and pipelines.

Unveiling his economic team, Obama announced he is spending his way out of the recession with a building bonaza worth up to £463bn.

The spendaholic president-elect hopes to create 2.5m jobs by 2011 with a public works programme that could rival the programme that dragged the US out of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Although details have been scant so far, insiders say work could start within months.

CNN reports that some 3,000 projects costing £11.6bn could be under contract in less than 90 days. Many of these would be addressing a backlog of projects, such as bridge strengthening and road repaving.

Experts are also calling for the construction of new transport corridors that bundle together highways, high-speed rail, pipelines and utility lines.

Last month this blog ran a post on America's crumbling infrastructure and the 10 projects the US desperately needs.

Even the glitz and glam of a £13.5m party in Dubai over the weekend could not hide the news that the emirate is heading steadily towards bust.

The boom of fireworks to celebrate the launch of the £1bn Atlantis Resort could not quiet the shrieks of get-rich-quick investors watching as their credit evaporates.

An interesting article in the Times today looks at the pressures on Dubai's property market and how it is faring in the credit crunch.

And it isn't good news. The Guardian also features a dire article on Emaar Properties' announcement that Dubai will pull back on its building spree and reduce supply.

It seems the old skyscraper theory as reported on another CJ blog could be true - when people start talking about building the biggest skyscraper look out for a financial collapse heading your way.

It is where the first skyscraper was conceived, but these days in Chicago the construction of tall buildings is going belly-up.

According to this report by Bloomberg, property tycoon Donald Trump has run into trouble with his Trump International Hotel and Tower as demand for apartments slump.

Trump has had to ask his bankers for extra time to repay a loan used to finance the 92-storey Trump International Hotel and Tower (pics here).

He's also had a tough time lining up contracts with tenants.

"The market in Chicago is very bad at the moment," admitted Trump to Bloomberg.

And construction of the 150m high Chicago Spire - to be the tallest building in America - is in doubt after parties associated with its' design served lawsuits on the developers.

Shelbourne Development Group has admitted work onsite has slowed and will not resume normal activity until the market picks up again.

In this economic climate it can't bode well when the home of tall buildings is struggling to keep them going up.