Dedicated: Largest Statue Ever

The Statue of Unity is a statue of Indian statesman and founding father Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950) in the Narmada district of Gujarat, India. It is the world's tallest statue, with a height of 182 metres (597 ft) or about two times as tall as the Statue of Liberty (excluding the pedestal). Patel was one of the most prominent leaders of the Indian independence movement, the first Deputy Prime Minister of India, and responsible for the unification of hundreds of princely states to form the modern political boundary of India. The statue is on a river-island facing the Narmada Dam (also called the Sardar Sarovar dam) near Rajpipla, 100 kilometres (62 mi) southeast of the city of Vadodara.

The monument and its surroundings occupy more than 2 hectares (4.9 acres), and are surrounded by a 12 km² (4.6 sq mi; 3,000 acres) artificial lake. It was built by Larsen & Toubro, who received the contract for ₹2,989 crore (US$420 million) for the design, construction, and maintenance in October 2014. The construction was started on 31 October 2014 and completed in mid-October 2018. It was designed by Indian sculptor Ram V. Sutar, and was dedicated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 31 October 2018, the 143rd anniversary of Patel's birth.

Construction

A consortium comprising Turner Construction (project manager of Burj Khalifa), Michael Graves and Associates and Meinhardt Group supervised the project. It took 56 months to complete – 15 months for planning, 40 months for construction and two months for handing over by the consortium. The total cost of the project was estimated to be about ₹20.63 billion (US$290 million) by the government. The tender bids for the first phase were invited in October 2013 and were closed in November 2013.

Narendra Modi, then serving as Chief Minister of Gujarat, laid the statue's foundation stone on 31 October 2013, the 138th anniversary Patel's birth.

Indian infrastructure company Larsen & Toubro won the contract on 27 October 2014 for its lowest bid of ₹29.89 billion (US$420 million) for the design, construction and maintenance. They commenced the construction on 31 October 2014. In the first phase of the project, ₹13.47 billion were for the main statue, ₹2.35 billion for the exhibition hall and convention centre, ₹830 million for the bridge connecting the memorial to the mainland and ₹6.57 billion for the maintenance of the structure for 15 years after its completion. Accenture provides digital media outreach program,

The statue was completed in 33 months. The foundation was laid down in 2013; construction was completed in mid-October 2018; and the inaugural ceremony was held on 31 October 2018, presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The statue has been described as a tribute to Indian engineering skills.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Unity