Senegal has officially canceled Akon’s ambitious $6 billion “Akon City” project, citing years of stalled progress and financial shortfalls from the Senegalese-American music star and entrepreneur.
Originally unveiled in 2020, Akon City was billed as a futuristic smart city modeled after Marvel’s Wakanda, powered by solar energy and run on Akon’s cryptocurrency, Akoin. The project promised to transform the sleepy coastal village of Mbodiène into a high-tech urban utopia.
But five years later, little has materialized beyond a basketball court, a youth centre, and an information kiosk. Now, Senegal’s tourism and development agency, SAPCO, says the deal is over.
“That project no longer exists,” said Serigne Mamadou Mboup, head of SAPCO, in an interview with Senegal’s national press.
The government has reclaimed most of the 136 acres originally allocated to Akon and will now move forward with a state-backed $1.2 billion tourism development, funded primarily by private investors. Akon will retain only 8 hectares, which will be folded into the new plan.
The revised project aims to generate up to 15,000 jobs in its first phase, bringing long-awaited economic benefits to the region.
Akon City’s first phase, which included a hospital, was initially slated for completion in 2023, but no construction ever began.
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