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The South African
11-07-2025
- Business
- The South African
Akon City: Senegal abandons billion-dollar 'Wakanda' vision
The Senegalese government has officially cancelled the $6 billion (R106 billion) Akon City project. Years of sluggish growth and little progress at the planned site led to this decision. The CEO of SAPCO (Company for the Development and Promotion of Senegal's Coastal and Tourist Zones), Serigne Mamadou Mboup, admitted to the BBC on 4 July 2025 that the project 'no longer exists'. Due to the inability to meet construction deadlines and financial obligations, authorities repossessed most of the 136 acres that had been initially assigned to Alioune Thiam, also known as Akon. With its 2018 debut, Akon City aimed to transform Mbodiène into a hub for technology. The proposal called for solar-powered medical facilities, schools, and shopping malls. The main currency in the city was supposed to be Akoin, Akon's cryptocurrency. Despite initial excitement and the 2020 foundation stone laying, the 800-hectare property has largely remained undeveloped. There is no extra infrastructure and only a partially finished welcome building. The reason for the cancellation is a documented failure to meet important payment deadlines and a lack of significant construction progress. Local residents voiced their dissatisfaction after receiving promises of work and advancement opportunities. Akon accepted full responsibility for the mistreatment of Akoin. Due to limitations of the CFA franc, the Senegalese central bank is against the use of Akoin. Instead of Akon City, the Senegalese government is pursuing a scaled-down, privately funded tourism development. The new project will include hotels, apartments, and a marina, with a construction cost of approximately $1.2 billion (R21.01 billion). In addition, Akon will maintain about eight hectares of the larger 500-hectare resort area. With an emphasis on achievable goals, SAPCO will support Akon's 'pragmatic initiative'. Furthermore, the revised plan hopes to attract private investment and create 15 000 job opportunities. While preliminary planning has started, including a receiving pavilion and public facilities, full-scale hotel, marina, and promenade construction has not yet started. Despite the cancellation of his ambitious project, Akon will continue to work on the updated development. Previously, he acknowledged that the management of the Akoin coin was inadequate. Adapting to Senegal's current economic circumstances, the shift to a more conservative approach aims to leverage the country's tourism potential. This change reflects a move towards realistic and attainable outcomes. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 11. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
Time of India
11-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Akon's $6 Billion 'Wakanda-inspired' city in Senegal officially SCRAPPED after just one building
Senegal's government has officially pulled the plug on R&B star Akon 's ambitious $6 billion plan to build a futuristic city inspired by Marvel's Wakanda-style set up in the film Black Panther. The project, on the country's Atlantic coast, once hailed as a symbol of pan-African innovation and investment, has reportedly been abandoned after years of delays and little visible progress. A video showing the original vision for the city vs the current abandoned project and acres of undeveloped land has gone viral. — AsianDawn4 (@AsianDawn4) According to various reports, Akon City, announced in 2020, was envisioned as a sprawling tech-powered smart city to be built on 136 acres in Mbodiene. The quiet farming village south of Dakar was reportedly cleared out to make way for the city that would replicae Marvel's fictional Wakanda, with an eco-friendly infrastructure, crypto-based currency, and state-of-the-art facilities. However, five years since its announcement, only a single building was completed. Serigne Mamadou Mboup, head of SAPCO-Senegal—the state agency overseeing coastal development—confirmed to the national press: 'That project no longer exists.' In its place, the government has announced a more modest, privately funded tourism project led by SAPCO. The shift comes amid economic strain and missed commitments. Last August, Akon received a final warning from the government to begin construction or risk losing the land, after defaulting on payments owed to SAPCO. With no substantial development materialising, the government has reclaimed most of the site. The revised plan will see 665 billion CFA francs (around $1.2 billion) invested in transforming the area into a major tourism destination. Of that, 600 billion is expected from private investors, with the remaining 65 billion coming from the state. However, Senegal's recent debt crisis could make attracting investors more difficult. Akon will retain just 8 hectares of the original site, which will now be integrated into a larger 500-hectare government-backed development. SAPCO officials insist the revised project will still deliver key benefits, estimating the first phase could create around 15,000 jobs—providing a much-needed economic boost to the Mbodiène region.
Straits Times
09-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Singer Akon's $7.7 billion ‘Wakanda' futuristic city dream crumbles in Senegal
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox R&B singer Akon' failed to deliver on his dream of a real-life Wakanda in the debt-stricken country. Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire – Senegal scrapped R&B singer Akon's plans for a US$6 billion (S$7.7 billion) futuristic city on the country's Atlantic Coast, and opted for a scaled-back project in the debt-stricken country that will rely on private funding. Announced in 2018 as a tech-driven, eco-friendly utopia for the global Black community with its own cryptocurrency, initial designs for Akon City, with its boldly curvaceous skyscrapers, were compared by commentators to the awe-inspiring fictional city of Wakanda in Marvel's Black Panther films and comic books. But after five years of setbacks, the 800-hectare site in Mbodiene - about 100km south of the capital, Dakar - remains mostly empty. The only structure is an incomplete reception building. There are no roads, no housing, no power grid, the BBC reported. That project 'no longer exists,' Serigne Mamadou Mboup, head of Sapco-Senegal, the state-owned entity that develops coastal and tourism areas, told L'Agence de presse sénégalaise. In 2024, Sapco gave Akon two weeks to begin work on the development or risk forfeiting the land. Most of it was reclaimed after Akon missed payments to Sapco. Meanwhile the star's Akoin cryptocurrency has struggled to repay its investors over the years, with Akon, Senegalese-American, conceding: 'It wasn't being managed properly - I take full responsibility for that.' Sapco now plans to spend 665 billion CFA francs (S$1.5 billion) turning the area into a tourism hub with hotels, apartments, a marina and promenade connecting the area to a nearby lagoon. The project is being developed as Senegal deals with a debt crisis that emerged after a state audit found that former President Macky Sall's administration accumulated US$7 billion (S$9 billion) of previously unreported loans. The so-called hidden liabilities restricted the West African nation's access to global credit markets and led the International Monetary Fund to freeze US$1.8 billion of funding. The government expects its plan will deliver on part of the original promise, with about 15,000 jobs expected in the first phase, according to Sapco. The new plan may finally offer opportunity for local investment, jobs and a reason for young people to stay, said Jean Wally Sene, a school teacher and resident of Mbodiène. 'For a very long time, people, including Akon, have been coming here trying to sell us dreams and illusions,' Ms Sene said. 'Finally, there's a dream for Mbodiène that we dare to believe in.' BLOOMBERG
Time of India
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Akon's $6 billion ‘Wakanda' city dream project abandoned by Senegal
Wakanda, the dazzling, ultra-advanced African kingdom from Marvel's Black Panther, captured the world's imagination with its soaring skyscrapers, clean energy, and revolutionary technology. Among its many admirers was global pop star Akon , who set out to bring a real-life version of that Afrofuturist utopia to Senegal. In 2018, he unveiled plans for Akon City, a $6 billion smart city powered by renewable energy and a custom cryptocurrency, 'Akoin.' But as inspiring as Wakanda was on screen, building it in the real world proved far more difficult, because there is a difference between fiction and facts. After years of little to no progress, the Senegalese government has now officially scrapped the project, citing a lack of funding and stalled construction. Akon's 'wakanda' dream meets harsh realities Spanning 800 hectares along Senegal's Atlantic coast, Akon City was pitched as a high-tech hub filled with hospitals, schools, shopping centers, and curvaceous glass towers. Its goal was to transform Mbodiène, a quiet rural area 100 kilometers from Dakar, into a futuristic metropolis. The city was to run entirely on solar power and use Akoin for all transactions, bypassing traditional currency. But five years later, the land remains largely untouched. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 3.5, 4.5 BHK Homes starting at ₹4.89 Cr.* Hero Homes Learn More Undo Aside from an incomplete reception building, no roads, housing, or energy infrastructure have been built. Locals say they were promised jobs and development, but 'nothing has changed.' Akoin, too, has faltered, with Akon admitting poor management and legal hurdles related to cryptocurrency regulation in Senegal. From Sci-fi dream to practical reality The Senegalese tourism agency SAPCO, which had partnered with Akon, confirmed that the Akon City project is no longer moving forward. Its head, Serigne Mamadou Mboup, told the BBC that a new, more 'realistic' plan is now being developed in collaboration with the artist. Officials say that despite the failure of the original project, the site still holds strategic value, especially with the 2026 Youth Olympic Games approaching and growing tourism in the region. While Akon City as envisioned is now defunct, the government remains open to future collaboration, this time grounded not in fantasy but in practical and achievable goals. As for Wakanda, it may still live on, but only in the movies.
Metro
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Singer Akon's plans for $6,000,000,000 futuristic 'Wakanda' city ditched
Singer Akon's plans for a $6 billion city in Senegal have been abandoned in favour of something more 'realistic'. Dubbed Akon City, the city would be a high-tech, eco-friendly 'home back home' for African-Americans and other black communities around the world and have its own crypto currency called Akoin. Early designs showed futuristic buildings, including curvaceous skyscrapers, with several people comparing the city to the fictional Wakanda in Marvel's Black Panther films and comics. The Locked up singer, who had a string of hits in the noughties, announced the plans in 2018 and in 2020 said he'd secured funding and had officially bought the land. However, Serigne Mamadou Mboup, the head of Senegal's tourism development body, Sapco, has now told the BBC: 'The Akon City project no longer exists.' He added: 'Fortunately, an agreement has been reached between Sapco and the entrepreneur Alioune Badara Thiam [aka Akon]. What he's preparing with us is a realistic project, which Sapco will fully support.' In 2020 Akon said construction had started, but all that has been built on the 800-hectare site is a reception building, which is only half finished. There are no roads, housing or a power grid. Plans for phase one – that were due to be completed by the end of 2023 – included a hospital, shopping mall, school, police station, a waste centre and a solar plant. The city, 60 miles south of Senegal's capital, Dakar was to be powered solely by renewable energy. Officials reportedly blamed funding, legal and construction issues for the the project's demise. More Trending The value of Akon's cryptocurrency, Akoin, designed to power the economy of the city, also plummeted in value. The singer has previously conceded that it 'wasn't being managed properly', adding 'I take full responsibility for that'. As the country prepares for the arrival of next year's Youth Olympic Games, there are now plans for a more modest development on the Akon City site, which sits along the West African country's coastline. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: A surprising UK building has just been named one of the world's most beautiful MORE: The dystopian megacity bigger than Scotland where 2,600,000 cameras are always watching
