MUMBAI, April 12 -- Rising above the waters of the Arabian Sea off Mumbai's west coast will be a towering tribute to Dr BR Ambedkar, a giant who shaped modern thought, steered the making of the Constitution, and led the movement for Dalits. The colossus - a 350-feet statue on a 100-feet pedestal - will be a bronze-clad likeness of Ambedkar called the 'Statue of Equality'. It will anchor an entire complex on nearly 5 hectares of what was once mill land on the Dadar coastline. Next door is Chaityabhoomi, where Ambedkar's ashes are preserved, and where lakhs of followers gather on Mahaparinirvan Diwas, his death anniversary, on December 6, every year. Ahead of Ambedkar's birth anniversary, on April 14, HT visited the under-construction memorial and found it slowly transforming into one of India's most ambitious cultural and architectural landmarks. Shanti Sthala, a serene, contemplative landscape of gardens that reflect the spirit and personality of Ambedkar, has missed it deadline by eight years already. While many of the buildings in the complex, including the gigantic pedestal, are approaching completion, the statue itself is yet to take shape. The shoes, exquisitely detailed, have been hauled to the site as has a section of the statue's legs. These will be assembled and installed atop the pedestal in the next few days. Completion of the statue is nowhere on the horizon. Sculptor Anil Sutar of Ram Sutar Fine Arts Private Ltd, executing the project after his father Ram Sutar's death, said, "Timely release of funds is a major issue and has impacted the work. If all the funds are made available, I will be able to complete the statue by December 6, 2027. If not, there will be further delays." The November 2026 deadline fixed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), helming the project for the state government, will not be met. "Only 11% of the statue is complete because only 107 tonnes of bronze has been procured, of the 850 tonnes, required to complete the statue," said Sutar. The 100-feet-high pedestal, nearing completion, will house a chaitya hall, drawing inspiration from Buddhist architectural traditions. Featuring 24 copper-clad ribbed domes, it will have a spiral ramp to guide visitors upward through museum and exhibition spaces that narrate Ambedkar's life and legacy. "The ramp will take visitors from the ground to the foot of the statue for a darshan of Dr Ambedkar and bring them back," said an MMRDA official. "The entire pathway will be temperature-controlled, an unusual feature for a monument of this kind," he said. The larger complex is designed as a massive public and cultural space. It includes a 1,000-seat auditorium, exhibition halls, a research centre, lecture halls, a library and conference facilities. Spaces for reflection and public engagement, such as a meditation centre and 'parikrama path', are integrated alongside visitor amenities. Landscaped gardens and underground parking for 500 cars completes the memorial's design. The auxiliary buildings, comprising the entrance complex, research centre, auditorium, and library are structurally complete; finishing work is underway. Nearly 68% of the site is dedicated to landscaped green areas. A natural water body on the site is being preserved and reinterpreted, drawing inspiration from the historic Chavdar Tale in Mahad, a site associated with Ambedkar's fight for social equality. Designed by well-known sculptor Ram Sutar, the statue is being executed through a multi-location process. A full-scale thermocol model, developed up to 230 feet, has been guiding fabrication. MMRDA officials say the statue requires 6,000 tonnes of steel and 850 tonnes of bronze, bringing its total weight to 6,850 tonnes. To date, more than two-thirds of the steel and 107 tonnes of bronze have been procured. Anil Sutar said, "A massive internal structural steel framework is being developed by (engineering and infrastructure firm) Shapoorji Pallonji, to support the 850 tonnes of bronze. This will be achieved by cladding an 8-mm bronze sheet onto a high-strength steel framework," said Sutar. A senior MMRDA official said the structure is engineered to last over 100 years. "The design has undergone rigorous technical validation with inputs from IIT-Bombay. A special type of bronze, an alloy of many metals, is being used to eliminate corrosion, given the coastal climate," he explained. A project officer said the crane at the site is one of the four tallest cranes in the country. "Setting up the crane required a specially constructed piled foundation base at the site. We have laid tracks on this foundation for the crane's smooth movement," he said. The crane's arms extend more than 500 feet - it will be used to piece together prefabricated parts of the 350-feet statue atop a 100-feet pedestal. MMRDA has also carried out wind tunnel analysis considering the memorial's coastal location. The statue, is being engineered to withstand wind speeds of up to 200 km per hour, officials said. The statue also features a 34-metre cantilevered arm, an engineering challenge as the arm alone weighs 300 tonnes. One of the country's most ambitious memorials, Shanti Sthala has been plagued by delays and cost escalations. The foundation stone was laid in 2015, with the project scheduled for completion in 2018. The cost has since risen from Rs.425 crore to a staggering Rs.1,089.95 crore. One reason for the escalation is a design change that raised the height of the statue from 250 feet to 350 feet. According to Sutar, the gradual release of funds by the government has also slowed the pace. "The price of bronze is climbing sharply and hence we cannot continue to work on the old rates. We have utilized the existing stock and require new stock, which will be procured only after funds are released," said Sutar. He said the West Asia war has also impacted the project, particularly the LPG shortage, as the gas is required for the furnaces. When the memorial is completed it will be an arresting tribute to one of India's tallest leaders. Dr Sanjay Mukherjee, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA said, "The memorial is expected to stand not only as one of the country's tallest statues, but also as a rare convergence of architecture, ideology, and public purpose. It is an attempt to translate Ambedkar's ideals into a physical space, one that merges scale with substance"...