The 182m statue of The Iron Man of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
will surpass the tallest statue in the world currently, which is
China’s Spring Temple Buddha at 128m. The Ushiku Daibtsu of the
Buddha is in Japan at 110 metres. The Statue of Liberty in New York
stands at 93 metres.
The proposed 182-metre high statue of Sardar Patel downstream of
the Narmada dam will cost Rs 2,000 crore as against earlier estimates of Rs
1,000 crore.
The
Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) has invited expressions of interest
from reputed consultants for the project. Burj Khalifa - Samsung Construction &
Technology - takes up the project.
The state
government proposes to rope in Gujarati diaspora, top business houses and
general public to collect money for the project.
While
officials in the SSNNL claimed money may not be a problem, a top aide of chief
minister Narendra Modi said, "One has to take into account cost escalation
while building such kind of a statue. It is possible that by the time the state
government floats tenders, the cost of the project would have escalated to Rs
2,500 crore".
The
Gujarat government has collected Rs 55 crore for the high-profile project. Of
this, Rs 50 crore has been collected from different state public sector
undertakings, while Rs 5 crore has been contributed by Adani group. The PSUs
have provided money from their corporate social responsibility funds.
Called
Statue of Unity, to be built on Sadhu island which is about 3.5 km downstream
of Narmada dam, the state government has formed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Rashtriya Ekta Trust to implement the project.
As per
the official note, the consultant will be required to do overall area planning,
including spaces for hospitality, health, education, convention and training
centres, development and formulation of tourism plan and provide technical and
managerial assistance for bids to invite EPC contract.
-Akarshi Taneja
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