Contractors and consultants have attended a workshop and site visit for construction work on the Qiddiya entertainment city project on the outskirts of Riyadh.

The event was held in late July and covered the infrastructure and site logistics packages for the project.

According to regional projects tracker MEED Projects, the scheme is valued at $4bn. It includes a theme park as well as other cultural, sports and entertainment attractions. It is being developed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and was first announced in April 2017.

In April this year, PIF formally entered into an agreement with US-based Six Flags to build the theme park.

For the construction, US-based Parsons is the programme manager for the Qiddiya. It understood that PIF is appointing consultants to prepare the masterplan for the project.

PIF is developing a series of major projects in the kingdom, including the $500bn Neom city project, the Red Sea scheme, and major urban developments in Jeddah and Medina.

When announcing the 2018 budget in late 2017, Riyadh said that the PIF will be the kingdom’s most active client body in 2018, with spending of $22bn on new and existing projects.

As it moves ahead with its project plans, the PIF has approached banks for a $6bn-$8bn syndicated loan.

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund issued a request for proposals to banks in July for its first commercial loan according to a report from Reuters. The report added that the deal is not expected to close before September.

It is understood that the loan has attracted significant interest from banks that want to establish a long-term relationship with PIF as it prepares to take a leading role in the economic transformation of the kingdom.