China has embarked on the construction of an 838-meter-tall building in Changsha, the capital city of Central China's Hunan province, which would be the "world's tallest" building.

Developer Broad Group held a ground-breaking ceremony in Changsha on Saturday to mark the start of construction of the 208-story tower, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald newspaper reported on Sunday. Upon completion, the building would be about 10 meters taller than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, currently the world's tallest.

The Changsha project, carried out by The Fifth Engineering Division of China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), is expected to be completed in April 2014, said Zhang Yue, founder and chairman of the Broad Group. It was slated to open in May or June next year.

The skyscraper will span a total area of 1.05 million square metres and cost a whopping 5.2 billion yuan (HK$6.5 billion) to build, voc.com.cn reported.

Named "Sky City", the mega building is designed to house various public facilities so the "building can serve as a city", the developer said. It will house schools, an elderly care centre, hospital, offices on the lower levels, while apartments and hotels would make up the upper levels.

Changsha-based technology enterprise Broad Group was founded in 1988. Its products include energy-saving electronic equipment and quake-proof construction materials.

China is home to five of the world's top-10 tallest buildings, according to a list in Forbes magazine last year.