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A<\/b><\/span> year after singer Akon laid the first stone of the $6 billion futuristic cities he vowed to build for his native Senegal, the site remains grassland.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n T<\/b><\/span>he stone itself sits at the bottom of a dirt track in a field; a small placard advertising the megaproject has fallen off it.<\/p>\n Construction of “Akon City,” a project due to feature ultramodern twisting skyscrapers, was already meant to have begun near the Atlantic Ocean village of Mbodiene.<\/p>\n But building work is yet to start, prompting residents who were hoping for jobs to wonder about its future.<\/p>\n “They laid the foundation stone with a lot of speeches and promises,” said Jules Thiamine, a 35-year-old local who works in the tourism industry.<\/p>\n “Compared to everything that was announced, I don’t think we have seen much yet.”<\/p>\n Akon — a Senegalese-American singer-songwriter best known for his R&B hits such as “Smack That” — launched his eponymous city in September 2020, to great fanfare and international media attention.<\/p>\n The city’s otherworldly design is partly inspired by Wakanda, he said at the time, referring to the fictional African city of the “Black Panther” Marvel movie and comic series.<\/p>\n Akon City’s planners also say it will be a “beacon of innovation and human development” that will boost industry in the West African state of Senegal.<\/p>\n A stadium, casino, luxury high-rise apartment complexes, and an education district that will “accommodate the most prestigious universities in the world” are also part of the plans.<\/p>\n – Sleepy hamlet –<\/p>\n The glittering vision is a far cry from the existing sleepy hamlet of Mbodiene, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the capital, where pigs roll in the muck and donkeys amble along the road.<\/p>\n Locals interviewed by AFP said they knew little about Akon City, nor why construction had been delayed.<\/p>\n The ceremonial stone was laid on August 31 2020 and construction was scheduled to begin early this year.<\/p>\n A hospital, school, shopping mall, homes, police station, waste center, and solar power plant are supposed to be completed in 2023 — and the whole city by 2030.<\/p>\n Speaking on an untarmacked road as horned cattle grazed behind him, 25-year-old student Ahmeth Deme wondered whether the project had been cancelled.<\/p>\n Badara Diakhate, the deputy mayor of the local commune, said he was unaware of the exact reason for the delay but that “people want things to get going.”<\/p>\n He welcomed investment in the village and said that delays were common, especially given the pandemic.<\/p>\n – Disillusioned –<\/p>\n At $6 billion, the planned cost of Akon City is huge — it is not much smaller than Senegal’s overall 2020 budget of about $7.5 billion.<\/p>\n The pomp and size of the project elicited skepticism in Senegal at first, where developers and politicians often tout the merits of pet building works.<\/p>\n About 40 percent of Senegal’s 16 million people live below the poverty line, according to a World Bank metric.<\/p>\n A lack of clarity regarding Akon City’s funding also raised questions.<\/p>\n Paul Martin, from the US-based firm KE International which won the Akon City construction contract, said that Kenyan entrepreneur Julius Mwale is the lead investor.<\/p>\n He added that he could not disclose information on other investors for confidentiality reasons, but said more than $4 billion in funding had been raised.<\/p>\n Construction of Akon City will start in October, Martin said, after a similar Mwale-funded city is completed in Kenya.<\/p>\n “The first 12 months incorporated planning, approvals, procurement and recruitment of sub-contractors,” Martin said by email, referring to Akon City.<\/p>\n But tourism worker Thiamane said that he’d grown disillusioned, pointing to earlier failed development projects in Mbodiene.<\/p>\n “What is shared in the village at the moment is the beginning of disappointment,” he said.<\/p>\n Akon’s team, and the Senegalese state tourism agency SAPCO, which is managing the project on the government’s behalf, did not respond to repeated solicitations by AFP for comment.<\/p>\n – ‘Still have hope’ –<\/p>\n Most Mbodiene residents cited the potential benefits of Akon City and said it could bring jobs.<\/p>\n “This is big for us,” said Philomene Bamimba, who heads a local women’s association.<\/p>\n David Seck Sene, president of the village youth association, admitted there was confusion around the delays but said: “I still have hope. I don’t see how a project like this could stop tomorrow.”<\/p>\n He, like other residents, is pushing for education and training so that villagers are not sidelined to laborers’ roles in Akon City.<\/p>\n KE International’s Paul Martin said the aim is to empower locals to fill high-skilled jobs, adding that training would start when construction does.<\/p>\n Let us know your opinion in the comment session below\u00a0<\/p>\n And follow us on IG @zikkyzhints<\/p>\n Facebook @zikkyzhints<\/p>\n Twitter @zikkyzH<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A year after singer Akon laid the first stone of the $6 billion futuristic cities he vowed to build for his native Senegal, the site remains grassland. The stone itself sits at the bottom of a dirt track in a field; a small placard advertising the megaproject has fallen off it. Construction of “Akon City,” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7066793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[228034,2177,277,5138,27148,137040,30265,228036,228035],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7066792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-akons","tag-city","tag-dark","tag-left","tag-locals","tag-senegalese","tag-singer","tag-unstarted","tag-wakanda"],"yoast_head":"\n