Akon in 2018. Photo by Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Concordia Summit
Akon City, a planned $6 billion development on the coast of Senegal spearheaded by the singer , is no more, Bloomberg reports. Most of the land allocated for the project has been reclaimed by the government of Senegal after Akon failed to meet development benchmarks for his city, first announced in 2020 and inspired by Wakanda, the futuristic African metropolis from Black Panther.
Serigne Mamadou Mboup, head of Sapco-Senegal, the country’s branch for developing its coastal regions, confirmed that Akon City “no longer exists” in a statement to L’Agence de presse sénégalaise. Instead, Senegal and Akon will collaborate on a scaled-back $1 billion “tourism hub” consisting of hotels, marina, and more developed on 8 acres of land with the help of private funding.
Akon City was envisaged as a solar-powered hub for African ingenuity and development lined by skyscrapers, condos, and theme parks. Akon’s cryptocurrency, Akoin, would have been the official currency. 136 acres of land 60 miles south of the Senegalese capital of Dakar were allocated for the project, but the government sent Akon its final notice in August 2024 over a lack of progress. By that time, only a youth center, basketball court, and Akon City information hub had been constructed.
