Not Quite Make in India: Sardar Patel Statue Being Made in China
An Outlook investigation reveals that the Statue of Unity, PM Modi’s pet project, is being made in China.
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The Statue of Unity – a 182-metre tall statue of the Iron Man of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, is a project close to Prime Minister Modi’s heart. Another project that is close to his heart is Make in India.
But the Statue of Unity, an ode to one of the great leaders who built India, will ironically carry a Made in China tag, reports Outlook’s Meetu Jain.
The World’s Tallest Statue which is the Prime Minister’s dream will be poured into shape at the world’s biggest foundry, the Jiangxi Tongqing Metal Handicrafts Company, by 700 workers at a 51,000 square metre workshop in China’s Nanchang province.
The Jiangxi Tongqing foundry is not one of the biggest foundries in the world. It is the biggest foundry in the world. In fact, we were chosen (for the Sardar Patel project) after the project people (L&T) spoke to a lot of other foundries and visited different foundry sites. And we do have previous experience of building similar tall structures in the past as well.
— Huan Chang, the son of the foundry’s owner to Outlook
The statue however has been designed in Delhi, and its 90-year-old designer, Ram V Sutar, confirmed to Outlook that the statue will partially be made in China.
We are at present making a 30-feet bronze statue here in our studio in Noida. The main statue will be made in China and I will go there to supervise it. We are making the prototype, and in China, they will enlarge it before casting. It will be made in parts and assembled here.
— Ram V Sutar, Designer, Statue of Unity Project to Outlook
Construction giant Larsen & Toubro won the mammoth Rs 2,989-crore bid for designing, building and maintaining the structure which will be erected 3km downstream from the Sardar Sarovar Dam at Sadhu Bet island.
Unsurprisingly, Larsen & Toubro has a different story to tell.
The statue obviously will be built at the site itself at Sadhu Bet (near the Sardar Sarovar Dam). This is not just a statue; it is a memorial. It cannot just be shipped in from somewhere. It will be constructed at workshops which we will create. The foundry and workshops will be created close by.
— Spokesperson, Larsen & Toubro
Outlook also sent a detailed questionnaire to L&T and their reply is, simply put, predictable.
All details pertaining to project operations are internal to our company, and are bound by contracts with our clients.
— Larsen & Toubro’s response to Outlook’s questionnaire
To cut a long story short, when the contract was given to Larsen & Toubro, Make in India was not added as a prerequisite. And so, the Iron Man of India will be smelted and poured into shape 6,132km east of Ahmedabad, in the People’s Republic of China.
Oh, the irony.
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