AFP via Getty Imagesīut local architects and experts raised a host of red flags. Akon speaks about the proposed Akon City at a press conference in Dakar on Monday. Senegalese officials celebrated alongside Akon on Monday, describing the project as a way to boost the country’s economy and revitalize a tourism industry ravaged by the coronavirus. He also said that about one-third of the city’s $6 billion in costs has already been raised, but would not say who the investors are, The Washington Post reported.Īkon - who spent his time growing up in Senegal and Newark, NJ - promised the project would source local materials to create a “very, very African” development. The recording artist has pledged that construction will start in early 2021 on a 2,000-acre parcel given to him by the Senegalese government. A model of the multi-billion-dollar city Akon wants to build on the coast of Senegal. “I want the buildings to look like real African sculptures that they make in the villages,” Akon, 47, told a crowd wearing face masks in Dakar.Īkon City, which the singer has previously called a “real-life Wakanda,” will include every aspect of a regular city, from luxury condos to a university to a hospital and even a beachfront resort. The urban hub features twisted, bulbous shining skyscrapers that look like waves of melted metal, and will even operate with its own cryptocurrency, the “Akoin.” The multiplatinum star, who is dubbing his futuristic new luxury development “Akon City,” was in the West African nation’s capital of Dakar on Monday to lay the lofty project’s ceremonial first stone. R&B singer Akon is leading a $6 billion project to turn an oceanfront village in his native Senegal into a stunning metropolis that bears a striking resemblance to Wakanda, the African sci-fi supercity the Black Panther calls home.