Patel’s statue was built in record 33 months, says Infra giant L&T

The Statue of Unity, an architechtural marvel dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, is the tallest statue in the world and the quickest to be completed in just 33 months, says infrastructure giant Larsen & Toubro.

At 182 metres from the road entry and 208.5 metres from the river entry, the iconic statue is taller than the 153 m Spring Temple Buddha in China and almost twice the height of the world-famous Statue of Liberty in New York. “At 182 meters (597 feet), the steel, concrete and brass-clad statue is the tallest in the world and Larsen & Toubro is proud to have constructed it in a record time of 33 months,” the engineering giant which built the mega statue said.

Built at a cost of ₹2,989 crore, the Statue of Unity project, barring bronze cladding which is a fragment of the mammoth work, has been done indigenously, L&T told PTI. The statue is located approximately 3.5 km downstream from the Sardar Sarovar Dam, on Sadhu Hill on the bed of the Narmada river. The statue is conceived as a naturalistic depiction of Patel in characteristic garb in a walking pose and rises out of a star-shaped, geometric base that covers the entire hill.

Also the statue is slender most at the base, which goes against the norms of what other tall statues have followed. “The statue structure was to be designed for 180 km per hour wind speed. And if you have seen all the huge statues in the world they have a wide base on which they stand. In case of this statue, the standing leader’s two legs were to be shown separate, which resulted in a narrow base for the structure. This was the biggest challenge...,” said L&T.

L&T CEO and MD S N Subrahmanyan said, “The Statue of Unity, apart from being a symbol of national pride and integration, is also a tribute to India’s engineering skills and project management abilities...”

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