World’s tallest statue begins to takes shape

New Delhi : The world’s tallest statue is nearly complete, with construction workers reaching waist height of the towering near 600-foot monument to India’s late independence leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. After nearly five years of construction, the monument is set to stand at 597 feet tall - almost twice the height of the Statue of Liberty and nearly 100 feet higher than the current record holder, China’s Spring Temple Buddha.

Set on Sadhu Island in western India, the £226.9million Statue of Unity is due to be completed by October on the anniversary of Patel’s death, surrounded by the waters of the Narmada river. The statue will stand at five times the height of Rio De Janeiro’s famous statue of Christ The Redeemer and more than double the height of Russia’s imposing The Motherland Calls statue in Volgograd.

Millions of tonnes of cement and steel have been shuttled to the site and recycled iron was used for the statue’s foundation. Thousands of labourers and hundreds of engineers are working on the project.