Gujarat to have world's tallest statue dedicated to Sardar Patel

New Delhi: Gujarat will soon have the world's tallest statue on the lines of America's famous 'Statue of Liberty'. The Statue of Unity is a proposed 182 metres (597 ft) high monument of Sardar Patel that will be directly face the Narmada Dam, 3.2 km away on the river island called Sadhu Bet of Narmada river, near Bharuch.The Statue of Unity will be double the size of ‘Statue of Liberty' in the US and four times higher than the statue of ‘Christ the Redeemer' located in Rio De Janeiro.Chief Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the project on October 31 - the 138th birth anniversary of Sardar Patel. The iron collection drive across India will also begin from the same day. The proposed statue will be erected on a small rocky island in the middle of the Narmada riverbed facing Sardar Sarovar Dam at Kevadia. The statue will have steel framing, reinforced cement concrete (RCC), and bronze coating.The iron needed for this statue is expected to be collected from farmers of different part of India. Farmers are expected to contribute their useless iron instruments to this venture.A consortium of Turner Construction (consultant of Burj Khalifa), will supervise the project. Dubai's Burj Khalifa happens to be the world's tallest building, while the Sardar statue is proposed as the tallest statue of the world. It will take 56 months to complete the project, 15 months for planning, 40 months for construction and two months for handing over by the consortium.The entire project would cost about Rs. 2500 crores. The first phase of the project, including construction of the main statue, a bridge connecting the statue to the river bank and reconstruction of the 12 km road along the river banks is estimated to cost cost Rs. 2063 crores. The entire project will include the statue, a memorial park at the base of the statue, an artificial reservoir between the Dam and Garudeshwar town and a visitor facilitation centre and reception desk at Kevadia.