Statue of Unity

The Statue of Unity is the world's tallest statue at 182 metres — depicting Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Deputy Prime Minister + Home Minister of independent India who led the integration of 562 princely states into the Indian Union. Located at the Sardar Sarovar Dam viewing site in Kevadia, Gujarat, the statue was inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi on 31 October 2018 (Patel's 143rd birth anniversary).

The structural design is a steel-framed concrete core covered with bronze cladding panels. L&T was the lead civil engineering contractor (₹2,989 crore total), with American firm Turner Construction managing the project and China's Kongkeen Group fabricating the 6,500+ bronze cladding panels. The statue was designed by Padma Bhushan sculptor Ram V. Sutar, a 93-year-old artist who has sculpted multiple major Indian public statues over six decades.

Key engineering features: - 56,000 tonnes of concrete in the foundation pile-cap - 18,500 tonnes of structural steel framework - 6,500 bronze cladding panels totalling 1,850 tonnes - Designed for 180 km/h cyclonic wind + Zone IV seismic exposure - Two high-speed lifts (2 m/s) running through the statue's interior - Visitor viewing gallery at 153 m height (Patel's chest level) - Integrated visitor centre at base + 5,000-seat auditorium

The statue is part of a 200-acre integrated visitor complex including: a museum on Patel's life, the Sardar Sarovar Dam viewing platform, riverfront landscaping, and tribal villages preserved within the visitor zone (Kevadia is tribal-dominated). Annual visitor footfall has averaged 2.5 million since opening.