#statueofunity #statueofunitytentcity #sardarpatelstatue #gujarat #sardarsarovardam
Narendra Modi announced the project on 7 October 2013 to mark the beginning of his tenth year as the chief minister of Gujarat.[7]
A society named Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust (SVPRET) was formed under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister of Gujarat, to execute the project.[7][8]
Statue of Unity Movement was started in 2013 to collect the iron needed for the statue by asking farmers to donate their used farming instruments.[7][9] By 2016, a total of 135 metric tonnes of scrap iron had been collected and about 109 tonnes of it was used to make the foundation of the statue after processing.[10] A marathon titled Run For Unity was held on 15 December 2013 in Surat and Vadodara in support of the project
After studying statues of Patel across the country, a team of historians, artists, and academics chose a design submitted by the Indian sculptor Ram V. Sutar.[a] The Statue of Unity is a larger version of a statue of the leader installed at Ahmedabad International Airport. Commenting on the design, Ram Sutar's son, Anil Sutar explains that, "the expression, posture and pose justify the dignity, confidence, iron will as well as kindness that his personality exudes. The head is up, a shawl flung from shoulders and hands are on the side as if he is set to walk". Three models of the design measuring 3 feet (0.91 m), 18 feet (5.5 m), and 30 feet (9.1 m) were initially created. Once the design of the largest model was approved, a detailed 3D-scan was produced which formed the basis for the bronze cladding cast in a foundry in China.[10][14]
The design showing Patel's dhoti-clad legs and sandled feet make the statue narrower at the base with a slenderness ratio that varies between 16 and 19, significantly higher than most tall buildings with ratios between 8 and 14.[15] This presents a challenge to the stability which was addressed in part through the use of two 250 tonne tuned mass dampers.[16][17] The statue is built to withstand winds of up to 180 kilometres per hour (110 mph) and earthquakes measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale which are at a depth of 10 km and within a radius of 12 km of the statue.[1][10]
The total height of the structure is 240 m (790 ft), with a base of 58 m (190 ft) and the statue measuring 182 m (597 ft).[1] The height of 182 metres was specifically chosen to match the number of seats in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly.[7][10]
A consortium comprising Turner Construction, Michael Graves and Associates and the Meinhardt Group supervised the project. The project took 57 months to complete - 15 months for planning, 40 months for construction and 2 months for handing over by the consortium.[24] The total cost of the project was estimated to be about ₹2,063 crore (equivalent to ₹33 billion or US$410 million in 2023) by the Government.[18] The tender bids for the first phase were invited in October 2013 and were closed in November 2013.[25]
Narendra Modi, then serving as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, laid the statue's foundation stone on 31 October 2013, the 138th anniversary of Patel's birth.[26][27]
Indian infrastructure company Larsen & Toubro won the contract on 27 October 2014 for its lowest bid of ₹2,989 crore (equivalent to ₹48 billion or US$600 million in 2023) for the design, construction and maintenance of the statue.[28][29] L&T commenced the construction on 31 October 2014. In the first phase of the project, ₹1,347 crore was earmarked for the main statue, ₹235 crore for the exhibition hall and convention centre, ₹83 crore for the bridge connecting the memorial to the mainland and ₹657 crore for the maintenance of the structure for a duration of 15 years after its completion.[28][29] The Sadhu Bet hillock was flattened from 70 metres to 55 metres to lay the foundation of the statue.[10]
L&T employed over 3000 workers and 250 engineers in the statue's construction. The core of the statue used 210,000 cubic metres (7,400,000 cu ft) of cement and concrete, 6,500 tonnes of structural steel, and 18,500 tonnes of reinforced steel. The outer façade is made up of 1,700 tonnes of bronze plates and 1,850 tonnes of bronze cladding which in turn consists of 565 macro and 6000 micro panels. The bronze panels were cast in Jiangxi Tongqing Metal Handicrafts Co. Ltd (the TQ Art foundry) in China as facilities large enough for such casting were unavailable in India.[30][31][10] The bronze panels were transported over sea and then by road to a workshop near the construction site where they were assembled.[10]
Local tribals belonging to the Tadvi tribe opposed the land acquisition for the development of tourism infrastructure around the statue.[32] Around 300 activists were arrested ahead of unveiling of the statue.[33] People of Kevadia, Kothi, Waghodia, Limbdi, Navagam, and Gora villages opposed the construction of the statue and demanded the restitution of the land rights