Once celebrated as a beacon of African innovation, Akon City is now a story of grand ambitions lost in the sands of Senegal.
At a Glance
- The ambitious $6 billion “Akon City” project in Senegal has been officially abandoned, according to the country’s tourism agency.
- The futuristic city was meant to be a hub of technology and sustainability, running on its own cryptocurrency called “Akoin.”
- The project failed to get off the ground due to a lack of funding, stalled construction, and regulatory hurdles.
- Akon and the Senegalese government have now agreed to pursue a more “realistic project” on the site—a tourism and leisure resort.
“Akon City No Longer Exists”
The grand, futuristic vision for Akon City—a $6 billion, cryptocurrency-powered utopia on the coast of Senegal—is officially dead. The head of Senegal’s state-owned tourism agency, Sapco, has confirmed that the original project has been abandoned after years of delays and a lack of any meaningful progress.
“The Akon City project no longer exists,” Serigne Mamadou Mboup, head of Sapco, said in a blunt statement reported by the BBC.
A Utopian Dream Unravels
Announced with great fanfare in 2018, Akon City was the brainchild of the Senegalese-American singer and entrepreneur Akon. He envisioned a glittering, high-tech city with its own solar power plant, shopping malls, hospitals, and a local economy running on a new cryptocurrency called “Akoin.”
However, the ambitious project was plagued by problems from the start. The $6 billion in necessary funding never materialized, and almost no construction ever began on the 2,000-acre site beyond the laying of a ceremonial first stone. The plan for a private cryptocurrency also clashed with Senegal’s use of the regional CFA franc, creating insurmountable regulatory challenges.
Akon himself has since admitted to the project’s failure. “It wasn’t being managed properly,” he said in a recent interview. “I take full responsibility for that.”
A New, More “Realistic” Vision
While the dream of a futuristic “real-life Wakanda” is over, the land will not sit empty. Mboup confirmed that Akon and the Senegalese government have reached a new agreement to develop the site. “What he’s preparing with us is a realistic project, which Sapco will fully support,” Mboup said.
According to the Daily Mail, the new plan is to build a more conventional tourism and leisure resort on the land. The development is being fast-tracked ahead of the 2026 Youth Olympic Games, which will be hosted in Senegal and are expected to bring a major influx of international visitors to the country.
