Akon said previously Akon City would run on solar power and his Akoin cryptocurrency. DAKAR – A single arched concrete block juts out of a field in Senegal where R&B singer Akon first laid the foundation stone for his US$6 billion (S$7.9 billion) metropolis four years ago.
The West African nation granted the music artiste 136 acres of land on its Atlantic Coast in 2020 to build his Akon City – envisioned as a real-life Wakanda, the fictional country from Marvel Studios’ Black Panther films (2018 and 2022). Complete with condominiums, amusement parks and a seaside resort in gravity-defying skyscrapers rising above the rural landscape, Akon City would run on solar power and his Akoin cryptocurrency, the American-Senegalese singer said in 2020 during a flashy presentation in Senegal’s capital of Dakar. Today, goats and cows graze the deserted pasture 96km south of Dakar, and authorities are growing increasingly impatient.
Sapco-Senegal, the state-owned entity charged with developing the country’s coastal and tourism areas, has given Akon formal notice to start work on his project or the government will take back 90 per cent of the land granted to him, general manager Serigne Mboup said. Akon, 51, got the notice after missing several payments to Sapco, two people familiar with the matter said. A spokesperson for Akon declined to comment.
A member of his staff said he was not aware of any notice when reached by phone. Sapco declined to answer further questions. In additi.