On an overcast day in September 2020 Akon, dressed in a powder blue suit, strode confidently onto a dusty red patch of disused land. There to meet him was a gaggle of journalists from around the world who had assembled for the hitmaker's latest launch: a supercity packed with stunning architecture. Local people clapped as a veil was pulled back on a plaque marking the future building site. But two years on the question of whether the plans will ever come to fruition divides communities in the region.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the Smack That singer also assured supporters waiting for refunds from his Token of Appreciation cryptocurrency campaign that they will receive their money back, even if he has to pay them out of his own pocket. Widely known for his string of noughties chart hits Akon, who was born in the United States but partly raised in Senegal, announced two ambitious projects in 2018 that were supposed to represent the future of African society.. RnB singer Akon says his much-delayed plans for Akon City - an African metropolis on the Senegalese coast - are "100,000% moving". Although goats are currently grazing on the site, he says that critics will look "super stupid" in the future. The first was a reported $6bn (£5bn) city with boldly curvaceous skyscrapers. It was to run on the second initiative - a brand new cryptocurrency called Akoin. But several years on both projects have faced difficulties and delays and the site where the city is proposed to be built remains a waste ground.
"We thought we could work on it but at this pace, maybe our children will," one resident of the area tells the BBC. "We remain hopeful for the project. We hope that our children will stay here to work." Another resident says they no longer believe in the project before adding "when it comes, if it finds us here, we'll see how we can contribute".
Akon City was initially compared in the press with Wakanda, the amazing African metropolis featured in the Black Panther movies and comic books. Phase one of the city containing roads, a campus, a mall, residences, hotels, a police station, a school, a waste facility and a solar power plant was supposed to be complete by the end of 2023. But after multiple delays, little on the ground appears to have changed since the launch ceremony.
"I'm only here in the presence of goats" local journalist Borso Tall tells me. "It's completely empty... no sign of building just a long line of green trees and red earth."
