Another Akon City earmarked for Uganda

Uganda is reportedly planning to set aside a square mile piece of land for the future construction of what will be the second ‘Akon City’ on the continent.

Senegalese-American music star Akon made headlines in 2020 after unveiling plans to build his first ‘Akon City’ in his country of birth. The construction of Akon City is still in the early stages of development, with the contract for the $6 bln awarded to American engineering firm KE International. The developer secured over $4bln for the initial two phases of development.

Talk of a ‘real-life Wakanda’ started back in June 2018, as Akon revealed plans for the revolutionary city on the West Coast of Africa. Akon had reportedly received 2,000 acres of land directly from Senegal’s president Macky Sall as a ‘gift’ in order to build the new city which will be located near Dakar, the Senegalese capital.

The first phase of construction of Akon City is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. Primary infrastructure including roads, waste services and a solar power plant will be built in the first phase alongside a Hospital campus, Mall and residential accommodation, hotels and a police station.

In addition parks, a sports stadium, industrial complex and a University have been earmarked for construction in phase one as well. The city will also be largely dependent on renewable solar energy.

The second phase of development is expected to take five years, from 2024 to 2029 and will culminate in the completion of Akon City and its running solely on an economy powered by the Akoin cryptocurrency and ecosystem.

Uganda set to be home to second Akon City

Last week Akon travelled to Uganda and reportedly met with president Yoweri Museveni and also participated in a press conference where initial details of the Ugandan Akon City were outlined.

Uganda’s minister for urban development Isaac Musumba said that the government had agreed to identify and hand over a piece of land to developers which will be no less than one square mile in size. Akon is set to be responsible for attracting investors for the project.

The completion of Uganda’s Akon City is earmarked for 2036, giving the project a 15 year timeline. 

Akon City to be powered by Akoin cryptocurrency

The first Akon City in Senegal is set to be powered by its own cryptocurrency called Akoin. The cryptocurrency itself is still in its infancy, with a long road map ahead that is outlined on its official website. 

The project’s whitepaper outlines the full plans for the Akoin cryptocurrency and its DApp ecosystem, which will look to capitalize on and cater to the massive market of mobile banking in Africa.

This excerpt from the whitepaper gives a broad overview of how the platform will work:

“Akoin is a multi-currency digital wallet attached to an online marketplace that simplifies local and global exchanges of value. The marketplace will be a hub for DApps, apps, and financial services for entrepreneurs and other users to access and utilize. The platform includes proprietary Atomic Swap technology that allows users to seamlessly transition in and out of the network with fiat, cryptocurrency, or prepaid minutes.”

The Akoin token will run on the Stellar Consensus Protocol which was chosen as the blockchain to power the platform due to the transaction speed of the network and access to liquidity through the Stellar decentralized exchange. Akon City and Akoin are set to be intrinsically linked to create an entirely unique smart city

Contributed by The Daily Chain.