Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is establishing a new investment company to help develop the kingdom’s entertainment sector.

The company will have an initial capitalisation of SR10bn ($2.67bn) and will play an active investment role in various areas of the entertainment sector. It will seek to attract strategic partnerships with international entertainment companies to expand the scope and variety of entertainment offerings in Saudi Arabia.

The company is planning to invest in a number of entertainment projects, which include an entertainment complex that will be launched by 2019.

The company will help deliver goals set in the government’s Vision 2030 document to increase the kingdom’s cultural and entertainment offering. By the end of 2030, the company’s projects aim to serve more than 50 million visitors annually and create more than 22,000 jobs, which will contribute about SR8bn to GDP.

Earlier this year, Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud announced plans to develop an entertainment city in the Al-Qidya area of the Riyadh.

The project, which will be developed by the PIF, will focus on cultural, sports and entertainment offerings, will cover an area of 334 square kilometres, including a safari site.

Construction work on the project will start in 2018 and first phase of the city will be completed by 2022.