In the first Budget of his Government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi showed his commitment to his dream projects initiated in Gujarat, namely the Statue of Unity and the Ahmedabad Metro projects.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech in the Lok Sabha today allocated Rs 200 crore for the Statue of Unity project, the tallest statue of Sardar Patel in Gujarat. The proposed 182-meter tall statue, double the size of the Statue of Liberty (which is 93 meters) in the US, will be erected on a rocky island in the Narmada riverbed near the Sardar Sarovar Dam at Kevadia.

The first phase of the project, for which the foundation stone was laid by Modi on the 138th birth anniversary of Sardar Patel last year, is estimated to cost around Rs 2,063 crore. The State Government has allocated Rs 500 crore for the statue project in the current year.

Immediately after the Budget announcements, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel tweeted on her official twitter handle, “Heartily thank PM @narendramodi & Shri @arunjaitley for allocating Rs 200 cr for the Statue of Unity as part of the Union Budget.”

Also, the much-awaited Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar Metro project will get a boost with the Finance Minister allocating Rs 100 crore for the Ahmedabad and Lucknow metro projects.

The State Government has made a provision of Rs 250 crore for the Ahmedabad Metro phase-1. The work on the project is likely to start this year, the State Government had said in the Assembly earlier this month.

“We also thank the Union Government for allocating exclusive funds for the Ahmedabad Metro Project,” Patel tweeted, appreciating the Central support for the project.

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