If you want a taste of what is so wrong with the world, read this news clip from India. The US firm behind the cloud-sniffing Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Turner Construction, has been awarded a $450 million contract to build a a 392 foot tower of Sardar Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel in a country where 230 million people go hungry every day.
Called the Statue of Unity, the world’s tallest statue will be placed in the middle of the Narmada River, according to the Times of India, right across the way from one of the world’s biggest dams.
Michael Graves and Associates from the US and Mindheart from Germany are also among the contractors who will work on the mammoth tribute to one of the founding fathers of modern India, the Times of India reports.
“The life of a man, as great as Sardar Patel, is something that India cannot simply afford to fade away into pages of history,” reads a statement on the Statue of Unity’s website.
“To keep him alive in the hearts of the generations to come is the only true tribute that he can be commemorated with. It is thus in order to make Sardar Patel a source of inspiration for every generation, that such a massive project is being undertaken,” it continues.
The soaring statue of “Iron Man of India” will be 54m higher than the current record holder, the Spring Temple Buddha statue in China built in 2002, notes Arabian Business.
And it’s going to cost a small fortune. Nevermind that 44% of the country’s children are undernourished and that 7% die before they reach the age of five as a result.
Of course, the Statue of Unity project will be accompanied by a museum of Sardar Patel’s life and work along with a gallery, a laser light show, recreation areas and a restaurant and cafe – all of which, we will be told, should create jobs and generate income for the local community.
The entire facility will be reached by ferry in order to minimize pollution and should be complete within the next five years or so.
With any luck, the statue will be so tall that Sardar Patel himself will be able to see it from his perch in the sky.
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
The author does not see the discrimination that happens to the workers in Middle East. Poor working and living conditions for the expat laborers. Oh! Let’s not even discuss women’s rights for its own citizens.
Yes there is poverty in India but has freedom. We will surely rise and will be back to the era before the British Colonies. Jai Hind.
Not every statue or structure is a “wasted” investment at the expense of poor starving children. Given the size of the Indian population, the statue alone could bring in well over 450 million in tourism alone. Point is, nothing is black and white.