Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated the tallest statue in the world at 182 m (597 ft) located in Gujarat, India. The statue of steel, concrete and brass cladding is almost twice the height of the Statue of Liberty in the United States.
Built as a tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, known as "The Iron Man of India," the Unity Statue is a marvel of engineering completed in a record 33 months. The 20,000 square meter project is located in Kevadia Town in Gujarat, near the Sardar Sarovar dam.
As the EPC contractor for the project, Larsen & Toubro, SN Subrahmanyan, CEO and Managing Director of L & T, said: "In addition to being a symbol of national pride and integration, this is a tribute to the engineering and project management skills from India. We are proud to be associated with the construction of the tallest statue in the world, which is an appropriate tribute to the Iron Man of India. '
MV Satish, full-time director and executive vice president of Buildings, Minerals and Metals, L & T, said: "From the concept, through the entire design development process, the characteristics and characteristics of the statue, engineering, planning of projects, logistics, cost controls, all were handled extremely efficiently and reflect a triumph in teamwork ".
The Unity Statue complex comprises an exhibition center at its base, a memorial garden, a design bridge connecting the island of Sadhu with the mainland along the Narmada River, an internal road of 5 km in length, improvements to existing roads, bridges, culverts that connect the area of the sadhu island. It also houses an administrative complex and a hotel with star rating (Shrestha Bharat Bhavan) and a conference center. The structure has two vertical cores, each of which houses a high-speed passenger elevator. The vertical cores support the steel frames to which some 6,500 bronze panels are coated. An observation gallery at the level of the chest at 135 m (443 ft), can accommodate up to 200 visitors at one time and offers an impressive view of the Sardar Sarovar dam and its surroundings.
The project has used 210,000 cubic meters of concrete, 70,000 tons of cement and 18,500 tons of reinforced steel; 6,500 MT structural steel has been used to form the support structure, while the 1,700 MT (6,500 nep) bronze panels form the outermost layer. The statue can withstand wind speeds of up to 180 km per hour and survive earthquakes up to 6.5 on the Richter scale.