Following controversy over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project - Statue of Unity — that the world’s tallest statue would be ‘Made in China’, the contractor of the project larsen & Toubro claimed the statue would be built in India.

For the 182 metres tall Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s statue, Modi had launched a nationwide farm tool collection drive — symbolic of ‘unifying the country’. later, the global engineering firm larsen & Toubro had won engineering-procurement-construction contract for the project.

The company said the entire statue was being built in India on site and only the bronze cladding in the form of bronze plates is being sourced from China which constitutes a negligible amount of less than 9 per cent of the total value of the project.

The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust (SVPRET), a special purpose vehicle (SPV) headed by Gujarat Chief Minister has accorded work to the company to erect the statue of Sardar Patel on Sadhu Bet near Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada River. Apparently the company has reacted after recent media reports saying that major part of the Statue of Unity would be completed in neighbouring China.

“We have been entrusted with the responsibility of designing, procuring material and constructing the statue to very stringent specifications and deadlines employing the highest level of technology as efficiently as possible,” said the company’s official communiqué.

The company also said it had looked at all the sources, global as well as domestic, for the cladding bronze. It was determined after due diligence that it would be appropriate to globally source the same. Since the expertise required to construct large statues resided only in Asia, it was decided to scrutinize Asian markets and after a rigorous selection process, the order was placed on a Chinese company that can deliver on quality and time.

According to the company the plates are put together and erected on the core of reinforced concrete and structural steel at the Sadhu Hill site after assembly and welding. Thus, the notion of the statue in entirety is being shipped from China is a total misunderstanding, said the communiqué. The company has engaged a renowned Indian sculptor Ram V Sutar to give form to the statue.