Senegal has officially canceled singer Akon’s ambitious $6 billion plan to build a futuristic city along the country’s Atlantic coast, citing insufficient progress and financial setbacks. The government will instead move forward with a scaled-down $1.2 billion resort project.

In 2020, Akon was granted 136 acres of land to develop “Akon City” a high-tech smart city inspired by Marvel’s fictional Wakanda intended to transform the quiet farming village of Mbodiène into a thriving urban and tourism hub.

However, after years of inactivity and missed payments to Sapco, the state agency responsible for coastal and tourism development, the Senegalese government issued a final warning last August. With no meaningful progress made, most of the allocated land has now been reclaimed.

“That project no longer exists,” confirmed Serigne Mamadou Mboup, head of Sapco-Senegal, in a statement to the national press.

The government’s new plan involves investing 665 billion CFA francs ($1.2 billion) to develop a major tourism destination on the reclaimed land. Approximately 600 billion CFA francs will come from private investors, while the remaining 65 billion will be state-funded.

Akon will retain just 8 hectares of land for a smaller-scale venture.

Despite the downsizing, officials say the new project could still deliver tangible economic benefits. Sapco estimates that the first phase alone could create around 15,000 jobs, bringing much-needed growth to Mbodiène and surrounding communities.