By Correspondent
Singer, Akon has been given a one month notice to develop his 4-year old $6 billion metropolis or risk losing it.
Sapco-Senegal, the state-owned entity charged with developing the country’s coastal and tourism areas, reportedly gave Akon formal notice early this month.
Failure of which the government will take back 90% of the land granted to him.
A Bloomberg report quoted General Manager of Sapco, Serigne Mboup attend to the new ultimatum.
The Senegalese government gave the artist 136 acres of land on its Atlantic Coast in 2020 to build his Akon City.
It was envisioned as a real-life Wakanda, the fictional country from Marvel Studios’ Black Panther films.
According to initial plans it would have condominiums, amusement parks and a seaside resort.
All these would run on solar power and his Akoin cryptocurrency.
The first phase of the project was supposed to be complete in 2023.
However, 4 years later there is nothing to show on the ground.
This has pushed the government to threaten taking back the land.
Despite failure to kickstart the Senegal project, Akon revealed plans for a second and similar city in Uganda.
He was allocated a square mile of land by the Ugandan government in 2021.
However, just like in Senegal nothing much has been done in Uganda.
The Smart City idea is similar to the US$500 million Cyber City project in Harare’s Mt Hampden.
Cyber City is being funded by a Dubai based Mulk International.
