(Yicai Global) May 31 -- Universal Studios' theme park in Beijing, its third in Asia, will reportedly open in the first half of 2021.

Costing more than CNY50 billion (USD7.2 billion), Universal Beijing Resort will launch after a trial operating period, the Beijing News reported, citing Zhao Jun, who heads the tourism management committee of Tongzhou district, where the park is being built. Building work on the project will finish by the end of next year, Zhao added.

Located in the Beijing Tongzhou Cultural and Tourism Zone, Universal Beijing Resort is the world's sixth and China's first Universal Studios-branded theme park. It covers a 1.2 square-kilometer site. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in October 2016, two years after the project was first announced.

The first phase, which includes the park, hotels, parking and staff accommodation, is under construction, according to a representative of Beijing Shouhuan Cultural Tourism Investment, the Chinese investor in the project.

More than CNY50 billion has been invested in the project, which includes 129 infrastructure works, of which more than 70 have started, and another 50 will kick off this year or in the first half of next year, Zhao said.