American consulting engineer KE International has been awarded a contract to oversee the $4bn first and second phases of a "cryptocurrency themed" city in Senegal, west Africa.
The $6bn, 2,000-acre city will be built on land granted by Macky Sall, president of Senegal, about an five minutes’ drive south of Dakar’s new international airport.
The first phase includes roads, a hospital campus, a shopping mall, houses, hotels, police station, school, waste facility and solar power plant, and is due to be completed by 2023. The second phase will run between 2025 and 2029 and may include universities, schools, a stadium, hotels, and an industrial complex.
Funding for the project is being organized by Senegalese singer and businessman Akon. One unique aspect of the project is that its economy will use only a cryptocurrency developed by Akon called "Akoin".
The project is due to be fully completed in 2030, whereupon its designers hope it will be the first LEED-certified project in Africa.
KE International has previously designed and built the $2bn Mwale Medical and Technology City in Kenya. Work on this project began in 2014, and is due to be finished before the end of the year.
In 2015, Akon created a charity to provide solar power for millions of people across Africa.
