Akon now officially owns his own city that will be run entirely on his own cryptocurrency Akoin

The star signed a deal on Monday to construct the 200-acre city in Senegal

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - Reporter: Fareed Rahman: Akon speaks at the Future Sustainability Summit. Tuesday, January 14th, 2020. ADNEC, Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
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Akon officially has his own city in West Africa.

The musician and entrepreneur has finalised plans for the futuristic Akon City, signing a deal to build on a 2,000-acre site in Senegal, the country in which he spent part of his childhood.

The city will be built on 100 per cent sustainable and renewable energy sources, and will run entirely on the star’s own cryptocurrency Akoin.

Speaking about Akon City at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, the singer said the project would be a "pilot of what a city in Africa can be", adding that it would be built by a "young generation" and minds with "futuristic thoughts and no borders".

The land for Akon City was gifted to the singer to develop from Senegalese president Macky Sall. Following the agreement, Akon tweeted to say he was looking forward to welcoming guests to the city.

As well as building Akon City, the star, 46, is behind the Akon Lighting Africa project, which has successfully installed solar street lights and small energy systems in 14 African nations, including Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Sierra Leone.

Speaking to The National earlier this month, Akon said, "The continent has been positioned as a place for charity since the 1970s and some of those concepts are still being used today. This needs to change, of course, but it is up to us Africans to rebrand Africa. While some charity organisations are using their branding to show Africa in a certain way to promote their initiatives, we need to change that message and show that Africa is a place to do business, because it has the people and resources."

Construction of Akon City began in March 2019, and will be carried out in phases over a 10 year period.