by Kandiss Edwards
July 10, 2025
Rapper and Millionaire, Akon’s deliberate Akon Metropolis will now not be a actuality. The Senegalese authorities will now construct a resort in its stead.
Plans for a futuristic African metropolis backed by New Jersey-born music mogul and entrepreneur Akon have been scrapped, and the location in Senegal will now be developed as a $1 billion resort, Bloomberg reported.
Senegal’s tourism company rescinded Akon’s multibillion-dollar “Akon Metropolis” plan in early July and shifted course towards a luxurious resort mannequin with non-public funding, Enterprise Insider Africa reported.
The unique imaginative and prescient, a $6 billion “actual‑life Wakanda” powered by Akon’s cryptocurrency, Akoin, didn’t materialize. Up to now, the property has solely constructed a welcome heart. In August 2024, Akon was warned that failure to satisfy deadlines and fee schedules to the tourism company ,Sapco, may end result within the forfeiture of the property.
In an announcement, Senegal lawmakers stated Akon Metropolis had stalled. The land has returned to state management, and the resort mission will prioritize in a single day tourism and hospitality infrastructure over city growth.
“That mission now not exists,” stated Serigne Mamadou Mboup to Senegal’s nationwide press company.
The collapse of Akon Metropolis is a setback for the growing nation. Pivoting in direction of large-scale tourism will enable the nation to capitalize on the gorgeous panorama. But, native community-centered growth will take a backseat. Akon, whose web value is estimated at $80 million, first unveiled his Senegal blueprint in 2018. The “Locked Up” rapper partnered with the Senegalese authorities on a plan that included a hospital, college, photo voltaic grid, and high-tech infrastructure. Regardless of enthusiastic launch occasions, development by no means progressed past a foundational marker set in 2020.
The pivot to a resort mannequin displays a extra standard strategy to attracting overseas capital and producing income. Senegal’s tourism company emphasised that the brand new mission will likely be “practical and sustainable.” Particulars about builders and development timelines are anticipated to be launched later this month. Akon’s dream of constructing a high-tech megacity in his ancestral homeland has ended, however the revised resort plan presents a extra tangible alternative for financial influence.
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