July 10, 2025
Rapper and Millionaire, Akon’s planned Akon City will no longer be a reality. The Senegalese government will now build a resort in its stead.
Plans for a futuristic African city backed by New Jersey-born music mogul and entrepreneur Akon have been scrapped, and the site in Senegal will now be developed as a $1 billion resort, Bloomberg reported.
Senegal’s tourism agency rescinded Akon’s multibillion-dollar “Akon City” plan in early July and shifted course toward a luxury resort model with private investment, Business Insider Africa reported.
The original vision, a $6 billion “real‑life Wakanda” powered by Akon’s cryptocurrency, Akoin, failed to materialize. To date, the property has only built a welcome center. In August 2024, Akon was warned that failure to meet deadlines and payment schedules to the tourism agency ,Sapco, could result in the forfeiture of the property.
In a statement, Senegal lawmakers said Akon City had stalled. The land has returned to state control, and the resort project will prioritize overnight tourism and hospitality infrastructure over urban development.
“That project no longer exists,” said Serigne Mamadou Mboup to Senegal’s national press agency.
The collapse of Akon City is a setback for the developing nation. Pivoting towards large-scale tourism will allow the country to capitalize on the beautiful landscape. Yet, local community-centered development will take a backseat. Akon, whose net worth is estimated at $80 million, first unveiled his Senegal blueprint in 2018. The “Locked Up” rapper partnered with the Senegalese government on a plan that included a hospital, university, solar grid, and high-tech infrastructure. Despite enthusiastic launch events, construction never progressed beyond a foundational marker set in 2020.
The pivot to a resort model reflects a more conventional approach to attracting foreign capital and generating revenue. Senegal’s tourism agency emphasized that the new project will be “realistic and sustainable.” Details about developers and construction timelines are expected to be released later this month. Akon’s dream of building a high-tech megacity in his ancestral homeland has ended, but the revised resort plan offers a more tangible opportunity for economic impact.
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