Akon secures $6 Billion construction contract to build city in Senegal
17 June 2020, 16:31 | Updated: 17 June 2020, 16:36
Rapper Akon has announced a $6 billion construction to build 'Akon City' in Senegal.
Rapper-Businessman Akon has secured a $6 billion contract to build his cryptocurrency themed city in Senegal.
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The 47-year-old rapper has officially created a city in Senegal named after him. According to PRWeb, early this month the "Locked Up" artist entered a contract with the United States-based engineering and consulting firm, KE International.
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KE International generated $4 billion from investors and will use the money to complete the first and second phase of the construction of the city.
The first phase is expected to be finished by the end of 2023. The first phase consists of the construction of roads, a Hamptons Hospital campus, Hamptons Mall, a police station, a waste facility, a school, and a power plant.
Phase 2 will be completely in 2029 and will focus on integrating businesses to run on Akon's cryptocurrency 'AKOIN'.
Phase 2 will also provide parks, a stadium, universities, and an industrial complex in Akon City.
Akon City's partners include US-based Kenyan entrepreneur and Investor, Julius Mwale.
Mwale is also working with KE International to create his $2 billion Mwale Medical and Technology City project in Kenya.
President of Senegal, Macky Sall, will mark out Akon City as a special tax zone with tax breaks, giving companies better opportunity to invest.
Akon City will be a Leader in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified city, operating on 100 percent renewable energy.
This will be only the second LEED city in Africa following Mwale's Mwale Medical and Technology City. The entire construction for Akon City is expected to be completed in 2030.
Back in 2018, Akon, who is of Senegalese descent, announced plans for the futuristic "Crypto city" claiming that the city would be built on a 2,000-acre land. The deal has been sealed and the permission has been granted by the President of Senegal, Macky Sall.
The "Smack That" rapper also said the new city would also trade exclusively in his own digital cash currency "AKoin".
On Monday (Jan 13) Akon took to Twitter and wrote "Just finalized the agreement for AKON CITY in Senegal. Looking forward to hosting you there in the future".
Just finalized the agreement for AKON CITY in Senegal. Looking forward to hosting you there in the future pic.twitter.com/dsoYpmjnpf
— AKON (@Akon) January 13, 2020
The new city's official website previously stated it would be a five-minute drive from the West African state's new international airport.
The city will supposedly be the first ever to run on 100% renewable energy, and will be built in phases over the next 10 years.
The 46-year-old rapper has pictured the city being like a real-life Wakanda - fictional nation at the heart of Marvel’s Black Panther.
In November last year, Akon revealed the city would run completely on renewable energy and have it's own airport.
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During the interview with Nick Cannon, Akon revealed that construction began in March 2019 and would take a decade to complete, where stage two would begin in 2025.
In the same interview he also unveiled his plans for his Akoin cryptocurrency, which would act as "Akon City's" primary currency. See full interview above.
