Pop Superstar, Akon, Forays into Real-estate with futuristic Akon City

Akon, full name Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, is a multi-award winning recording pop artiste of Senegalese descent. The US-based entertainment mogul has been involved in numerous business and humanitarian projects over the years and has been in the news lately with his futuristic city development project..

He envisioned an independent city with a thriving social and economic structure to bring tourists, city residents, and investors alike with great commercial activities. A proprietary cryptocurrency would power the $6 billion 2,000 acre city, 'Akoin'. This laudable project is an experimental attempt to see if the digital currency can be integrated seamlessly into Africa; the city is proposed to be a smart city with her own unique police structure within the independent country of Senegal bordering the capital Dakar. It is strategically within five minutes driving distance from Senegal's new international airport.

The announcement for the project was first publicized in 2018, and the smart city construction will commence on a plot gifted the ‘Locked Up’ crooner by President Macky Sall near the capital of Dakar. However, the project would be developed across the 2,000 acres jointly with the state tourism agency SAPCO.

The groundbreaking ceremony took place last year and was well attended. The project would be executed in phases. The second phase is expected to roll out in 2025 and is scheduled to be completed in the next nine years and spot a large artificial lake.

The city will undoubtedly be an architectural splendour, and its competitor, the Eko Atlantic, of the same magnitude in scope, being developed within Victoria Island in Lagos, Nigeria.

Images courtesy of Hussein Bakri/BAD Consultant/Semer Group