Senegalese bemused by Akon's plans to build futuristic city

Dakar

HERDS of cows meander across the one-lane highway that leads down Senegal's coast to Mbodiene, a farming village surrounded by scrubland where singer Akon plans to build a futuristic city.

The designs, which show shiny, pinkish buildings that bend and curve like waves, would look at home in any sci-fi movie.

In the master plan, architect Hussein Bakri has carved out space for a parking lot - for flying cars.

Akon, the Senegalese-American singer of 2006 hit Smack That, has said the city will attract tourists and create thousands of jobs. US-based firm KE International said it plans to start construction on the US$6 billion project next year.

But in Senegal, a West African country where villagers drive horse carts on unpaved roads, the proposal has met with suspicion and bemusement.

Questions about land rights, financing and feasibility remain unanswered, and locals are wondering whether the promised benefits will ever come.

"Akon came to meet us. He said he'll do this. It could be real or not real - but I think it's real," said Magueye Ndao, mayor of Ngueniene, the municipality containing Mbodiene and other villages where Akon City will be built.

The list of promises is long, said Mr Ndao and other local leaders. Chief among them is a training centre and jobs for youth, as well as improved schools and health services and extension of the water, sanitation and electricity networks. "We welcome this project with open arms and pray that everything Akon told us will be realised," said Mr Ndao.

If history is any guide, they will most likely be let down, said Xavier Ricou, an architect and former director at APIX, Senegal's agency for promoting investment and major projects.

"During the 15 years or so that I worked at APIX, I saw proposals from people who wanted to make cities all over," said Mr Ricou, revealing how millions of dollars were spent on advanced plans for cities that were then never built.

They were mostly abandoned, he said, due to inadequate funding, a change of government or some other, unknown reason. As for Akon City, "I think nothing will happen," he said.

Akon, whose full name is Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, spent part of his childhood in Senegal before moving to the United States. His first big philanthropic initiative was Akon Lighting Africa, a solar power project launched in 2014. The 47-year-old is also behind Akoin, a crypto-currency that he says will power Akon City.

In November, work began on a youth centre in Mbodiene - not as part of Akon City, but one that locals said Akon is behind. At the project site, a single stone sits on a pedestal in an empty field, untouched since Akon and the tourism minister held a stone-laying ceremony to kick off the project in August.

Of the US$6 billion budget, US$4 billion has been secured from investors, including Kenyan businessman Julius Mwale, said Paul Martin, director of the project at KE International, an engineering and infrastructure consulting firm.

Akon City was designed "for the people", said Dubai-based architect Mr Bakri, who began visiting Senegal several years ago and said he was inspired by what he saw.

"We tried to give the people the feeling of Africa," said Mr Bakri, who is Lebanese. A promotional video shows buildings that are loosely shaped like trees, gazelles and butterflies.

With two resorts, four or five hotels, a hospital and a tech park, Akon City will be a destination for both locals and the global elite, said Mr Bakri. Akon has also said that he hopes it will be a "home back home" for African Americans.

Residents of nearby villages are excited, if concerned. "The studies that were done were not in collaboration with the commune of Ngueniene," said Pape Massamba Thiaw, a municipal councillor and president of the youth commission for Ngueniene.

He is worried about the disconnect between Western and Senegalese culture, the impact on the environment, and the possibility that smaller hotels nearby will fold, he said.

He also wants to make sure that young Senegalese get to work in offices, not just doing construction or collecting trash. "I don't want us to be just day labourers. We have to be among the managers," he said.

Mr Martin said KE International will ensure contractors allocate 90 per cent of jobs to locals, and will build colleges to train locals in new skills.

Although Mr Martin said environmental and social impact studies had been done, Mr Thiaw said that no study had engaged the community or been shared with local leaders.

The head of the Senegalese Coastal and Tourist Zones Development and Promotion Company (SAPCO), the state agency leading the project, said studies were still underway.

"Since the project is not 100 per cent led by the commune of Ngueniene, there are bound to be fears and worries about it," said Mr Thiaw. "Up until now there have been no problems. The problems will arise the moment his promises are not kept."

The first phase of Akon City will be built on 55ha, said Mr Bakri, but the long-term plan is to use all 504ha in Mbodiene. So far a deal with SAPCO has only been finalised for the 55ha, he said. REUTERS