Rapper Akon presents his futuristic city in Senegal

Curvy architecture, cutting-edge materials, film studios, hotels, university, hospitals, business and leisure centers ... Rapper Akon detailed Monday in Dakar his project for "Akon City", a worthy futuristic city of the mythical Wakanda that he intends to build in Senegal, his country of origin.

Read also: Singer Akon will create his own sustainable city in Senegal

Known for his R&B hits

or

, the 47-year-old Senegalese-American singer and producer explained at a press conference that he laid the foundation stone for his gigantic project, at an estimated cost of $ 6 billion, in the small village of Mbodiène, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, about a hundred kilometers south of Dakar.

The future city intends to make Senegal the gateway to Africa, said the singer in front of many Senegalese and international journalists.

“One of my biggest motivations is that when I'm in America, I meet a lot of African Americans who don't really understand their culture.

So I wanted to build a city or a project like this to give them the motivation to come and see where they come from, ”

Akon said.

Born in the United States of Senegalese parents, and having spent part of his childhood in Senegal, he returned at the age of seven to his native country, where he rose to prominence.

A life-size Wakanda

An animated film shown presented the future

of Akon City, designed by architect Hussein Bakri: one, dedicated to leisure, should host a casino, a multi-sports stadium and a shopping center, a another housing and office buildings, a third a

, restaurants and tourist chalets.

Further on, a general hospital, a police station, a campus and film studios, as well as a

, should rise from the ground.

'Hussein, I want my buildings to look like sculptures,'

said the rapper, who alternated between Wolof, the most widely spoken local language in Senegal, and English.

“I want the architecture to look like the real African sculptures they make in the villages.

The shapes may be weird, but at least they're African, ”

he added.

Asked about the similarities between his project and Wakanda, an imaginary kingdom located in Africa where the film and the

comic take place

, he explained that this comparison had increased his motivation tenfold.

Akon did not react to the death of Chadwick Boseman who plays the main role in the film adaptation.

The 43-year-old actor died of cancer on August 28.

Read also: To salute the memory of Chadwick Boseman, Black Panther who went on tiptoe

Akon City's work will begin

said rapper Alioune Badara Thiam whose real name is.

About 300,000 inhabitants expected

The first phase of development, expected to be completed in 2023, will cover 55 hectares.

By the end of the decade, the complex is expected to cover 500 hectares, with an agricultural "district" and man-made islands, with a marina that can accommodate cruise ships.

architect Hussein Bakri told AFP on the sidelines of the press conference.

Akon, very involved in renewable energy with his company Akon Lighting Africa, whose objective is to electrify Africa with solar energy, insisted on the ecological aspect of the future city, which will make maximum use of renewable materials and primarily of African origin.

He explained that he went to Mbodiène to collect the advice and blessings of the elders, and estimated that the local populations, as well as the Senegalese youth, will benefit from this new development pole.

The Senegalese Minister of Tourism, Alioune Sarr, said he wanted to prove wrong to

, affirming that Senegal had made a commitment that

.

Read also: Barack Obama pays a moving tribute to Chadwick Boseman

Akon is not the only celebrity to return to the sources for such an investment.

British actor and director Idris Elba plans to build an eco-responsible tourist resort on an island in Sierra Leone, a West African country where his father was from.