5 years after Grammy-nominated artist Akon introduced his formidable plans to assemble a futuristic, cryptocurrency-powered metropolis in Senegal, the mission has formally been scrapped. What was as soon as touted as “Akon Metropolis,” a sprawling, high-tech utopia paying homage to Marvel’s fictional Wakanda, has now been confirmed by the Senegalese authorities as a defunct endeavor, making method for a “extra lifelike” growth.
Akon, whose actual identify is Alioune Badara Thiam, unveiled his grand imaginative and prescient in 2018, promising a £4.3 billion good metropolis close to the village of Mbodiène. Renderings showcased curvy skyscrapers and smooth fashionable infrastructure, with the singer stating town would characteristic a hospital, mall, police station, waste middle, faculty, and a photo voltaic plant – all powered by his personal digital forex, Akoin, and accomplished by 2023.
Nevertheless, almost six years later, the 800-hectare web site stays largely untouched. Drone footage from current months revealed a barren expanse of grassland with solely a single, half-built reception middle standing as a testomony to the grand however unfulfilled promise. Regardless of Akon’s insistence in 2022 that the mission was “100,000% shifting,” no significant building ever adopted the preliminary fanfare.
The Day by day Mail reviews that the mission’s collapse is attributed to a mixture of funding woes, stalled building, and authorized complications. This admission marks a major reversal for a mission that garnered worldwide consideration and drew comparisons to the technologically superior African nation in Black Panther.
With the 2026 Youth Olympic Video games on the horizon, the Senegalese authorities is now re-prioritizing its growth efforts, specializing in extra possible tourism infrastructure. Serigne Mamadou, head of Senegal’s tourism growth physique, Sapco, confirmed to the BBC that “The Akon Metropolis mission now not exists.”
Whereas particulars on the brand new plan are scarce, insiders counsel it would contain a extra sensible method, with the federal government eager to keep away from one other worldwide embarrassment. Sapco has reached an settlement with Akon for a “lifelike mission” that the physique will totally assist, although specifics have but to be revealed. The dream of Akon Metropolis, a real-life Wakanda on the West African coast, has pale, forsaking solely the ghost of an formidable, unfulfilled promise.