The household name singer Akon is making promising steps toward achieving his goal of a ‘futuristic’ city in Senegal that resembles the hi-tech community in the Black Panther movie. And, despite concerns over the global tourism industry due to the pandemic and its effects, he has now managed to secure significant funding for his project.
As well as obtaining funding earlier this week, Akon stopped by to lay the first stone of the informally coined “Akon City” in Mbodiene park. He has said that official large scale work will begin early next year.
The R&B singer, real name Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam, has described the city as a ‘home back home’ for all of those facing racial injustices across the world, as well as boasting a huge amount of potential jobs to be brought into the Senegalese community.
At the ceremony held for the project this week, Akon had this to say about the project: “We are looking at Akon city to become the beginning of Africa’s future. Our idea is to build a futuristic city that incorporates all the latest technologies, cryptocurrencies, and also the future of how African society should become in the future.”
Government officials were also present at the ceremony, and were singing Akon’s praises in regards to his contribution to the country. Alioune Sarr, the Tourism Manager for the country, claimed that the project is coming at a crucial time for Senegal.
He said: COVID-19 has sown doubt everywhere. This means that those who had doubts about the attractiveness of Senegal, and Africa in general must convince themselves that there are men and women who believe in Africa.
The city will be unlike anything seen before, it is set to be ran on a unique Akoin, ‘a cryptocurrency powered by a marketplace of tools and services fuelling the dreams of entrepreneurs, business owners, and social activists’. The currency looks promising, but relies on all users having access to a smartphone.
The project apparently has around a third of its total funding, but Akon is unable to reveal who this is from due to non-disclosure agreements. There is clearly still a significant way to go, but officials seem confident. Village chief Michel Diom said ‘We have a lot of hope. Many promised us projects, but we saw nothing.’
We’re sure there will be more updates to come regarding Akon City, but in the meantime why not check out these crazy new transparent public toilets in Tokyo…..
Featured image via Wikimedia
