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Saudi Arabia is now home to the world’s tallest and fastest rollercoaster after US-based Six Flags opened its first theme park outside North America in the kingdom.

The successful $1bn construction of Six Flags Qiddiya City is a step forward for the country’s rulers after a series of its futuristic gigaprojects have been hit by setbacks.

The park is the first operational part of Qiddiya, a vast entertainment and sports complex located on a desert mountain cliff on the outskirts of Riyadh. The site is also eventually set to include a Formula 1 racetrack, a World Cup stadium and a performing arts centre.

Qiddiya is owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has used as the main vehicle for an ambitious reform programme aimed at diversifying Saudi Arabia’s economy and lessening its dependence on oil revenues.

The complex is one of five gigaprojects that seek to help the diversification push by investing in promising new sectors for the country, such as tourism and entertainment.

As Saudi Arabia’s finances came under pressure in recent years due to lower oil prices, authorities have had to recalibrate plans and reconsider spending priorities, with the kingdom under pressure to meet deadlines ahead of hosting major events, including Expo 2030 and the 2034 Fifa World Cup.

After some of the PIF’s gigaprojects, including its flagship futuristic development Neom, were hit by delays and budget overruns, the fund said last year that it had to make an $8bn writedown of their value by the end of 2024.

King Salman of Saudi Arabia unveiled the Qiddiya project in 2018 and the first phase was supposed to open in 2022. Despite the delays, Saudi officials are optimistic that the opening will help attract tourists and convince citizens to spend their money inside the country instead of abroad.

“Qiddiya’s economic model is based on visitors’ spending,” said Abdullah al-Dawood, managing director of PIF-backed Qiddiya Investment Company, on a local talk show on Monday.

He added the project was expected to generate 7,000 jobs and contribute 2.5bn riyals ($686mn) to the kingdom’s GDP this year. These numbers are forecast to increase to 85,000 jobs and 44bn riyal GDP contribution by 2030 as other parts of the project come online.

The Six Flags theme park has already been a hit with locals, with thousands of Saudis paying the 325 riyals ($87) adult ticket fee to enter since the opening on New Year’s Eve.

The theme park’s top attractions include Falcon’s Flight, which Six Flags claims is the longest, tallest and fastest rollercoaster in the world, reaching a top speed of 155mph.

Omar al-Arabi, who used to live in California and frequently visited Disney and Universal theme parks in the US, took his three children aged between five and 13 to Six Flags Qiddiya City last week.

He said despite the big crowds the wait time for most attractions was 15 to 20 minutes. The only exception was Falcon’s Flight, which had a wait time of more than an hour.

“What I loved about Six Flags is that they didn’t bother being gimmicky, trying to spend money on buying rights or licenses for [intellectual property] that people know,” he said. “Everything they did is from scratch. It’s very culturally relevant. It fits the environment. It fits the culture.”

While authorities point to the opening of Qiddiya as evidence that the country can deliver on its ambitious promises, observers say questions about scope and economic viability continue to surround other projects.

“Saudi officials will be encouraged by its completion, especially with the negative scrutiny towards other super ambitious projects. It’s important to demonstrate they can get from computer-generated images to reality,” said Kristin Smith Diwan, senior resident scholar at the Washington-based Arab Gulf States Institute.

“Still, an amusement park is one thing. A futuristic city is another. Six Flags’ opening is unlikely to allay global scepticism towards Neom,” she added.