By Tosan Edematie
Authorities in Senegal are growing increasingly impatient with R&B singer Akon, who laid the foundation stone for his ambitious $6 billion metropolis, Akon City, four years ago. The West African nation had granted him 136 acres of land on its Atlantic coast in 2020 to build a city envisioned as a real-life Wakanda, complete with condominiums, amusement parks, a seaside resort, and gravity-defying skyscrapers.
However, today, the site remains a deserted pasture, with goats and cows grazing where the city was supposed to rise. Sapco-Senegal, the state-owned entity responsible for developing the country’s coastal and tourism areas, has issued a formal notice to Akon to commence work on the project or risk losing 90% of the allocated land. This notice came after Akon missed several payments to Sapco, according to sources familiar with the matter. A spokesperson for Akon declined to comment, while a staff member claimed ignorance of the notice. Sapco also refrained from further comments.
Akon had presented his vision with much fanfare in Dakar, promising a city powered by solar energy and using his cryptocurrency, Akoin. The plan included luxury apartments, a hospital, a police station, and a university equipped with cutting-edge technology. However, Akoin, which was launched during a cryptocurrency boom in November 2020, has seen its value plummet from $0.15 to a mere $0.003 by December 2020.
Local authorities had welcomed Akon’s promises, seeing potential for job creation and economic development in an otherwise agrarian region. “Akon City would bring employment for our youth,” said Michel Diome, the chief of Mbodiene village. “We would finally have a hospital and even a university.”
Born Aliaune Thiam, Akon spent his early childhood in Senegal before moving to New Jersey, where he discovered his passion for music. Rising to fame in the early 2000s with hits like “Locked Up” and “Lonely,” he sold over 35 million albums worldwide. In 2007, he founded Akon Lighting Africa to bring solar power to off-grid areas of the continent. Akon City was his most audacious plan yet, requiring the support of former Senegalese president Macky Sall.
The initial phase, including a hospital, condos, and an “African village,” was set to be completed by 2023. However, Akon later blamed the pandemic for delaying the project. Even as the Senegal project stalled, Akon announced plans for a second city in Uganda, where he was allocated land in 2021. However, progress has been hampered by local resistance and budget constraints.
In Senegal, residents are still waiting for the promised transformation. The singer has financed a youth center, a basketball court, and an information center in Mbodiene, but nothing resembling the futuristic city he had promised. Local lawmaker Bara Gaye has called the project a scandal, urging the government to terminate Akon’s contract.
Despite the setbacks, Cheick Seck, a project manager with Dakar-based Axiome Construction, insists that progress is being made, citing geotechnical studies, brush clearing, and an inventory of protected plant species. Akon’s team has promised he will visit Dakar soon to reassure partners of the project’s viability.
For now, the people of Mbodiene, once hopeful for a brighter future, remain in limbo. “We’re still waiting,” Diome said.
