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| Statue of Unity, pride of India, but Made in China |
October 20, 2015, NewsCrunch
The Statue of Unity, which is being erected in honour of India's iron man Sardar Vallabhai patel, is being made in China.
Seven hundred workers of Jiangxi Tongqing Metal Handicrafts Company, which runs the "world’s biggest foundry”, at Nanchang province are racing against the time to finish it in two-and-a-half years, reports The Outlook.
Due for installation in 2018, Statue of Unity would stand 182-metre tall and set Guinness record as the World’s Tallest Statue. Larsen & Toubro, which won the Rs 2,989-crore project, decided to outsource the work to China reportedly on cost and time considerations.
Larsen & Toubro told Outlook that it cannot comment on the matter citing contract obligations. But Huan Chang, the son of the owner of Jiangxi Tongqing foundry said they had been selected to make the Statue of Unity as they had scale and also the previous experience of building similar tall structures.
He also endorsed that it was a good decision to honour Sardar Patel, whom he described as India’s Iron Man, with a record-setting Statue.
Outlook said the outsourcing of the Statue of Unity work, which is being projected as the pride of India, was ironic. "...The irony of a ‘Made in China’ stamp on the man who made India is too difficult to miss," it commented.
Indian Express reported on Sunday that 5,000 pieces of the Statue would brought to Sadhu Bet, the site of the statue, and assembled with the help of hundreds of Chinese workers.
Express also said it was not able to contact Jiangxi Tongqing as its emails failed to get a response.
Express also said it was not able to contact Jiangxi Tongqing as its emails failed to get a response.