African-American Singer, Akon has put plans in motion on building a sprawling $6 billion city in his Senegal homeland to welcome Africans of the diaspora to their “home back home”.
The R&B star, who boasts two multi-platinum albums, told a news conference Monday he had laid the first stone for the city in the Atlantic Ocean village of Mbodiene around 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the Senegalese capital Dakar.
Akon revealed, “He ran into a lot of African-Americans that didn’t really understand their culture,” while growing up in New Jersey, USA.
“So I wanted to build a city or a project like this that will give them the motivation to know that there is a home back home,” he said, adding that he had received the blessing and advice of Mbodiene’s elders.
Akon City will offer hotels, a university, hospitals, business and leisure centres including a casino, as well as movie studios, all featuring futuristic designs by architect Hussein Bakri, with African sculptures for inspiration.
Wakanda, the fictional African city of the “Black Panther” comic book series, served as additional inspiration, Akon acknowledged.
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