The height of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji, to be built off the Mumbai coast, has been increased by two metres so it would be the world’s tallest statue, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Tuesday.

“The Spring Temple Buddha in China was earlier proposed to be 208 metres tall, and our memorial was to be 210 metres. But the Chinese authorities made some construction at the statue’s base, taking the height to 210 metres. This prompted us to revise our design and increase the height to 212 metres,” Mr. Fadnavis told reporters.

“The proposal has received sanction from the Union government. Preliminary work is going on at the site in the Arabian Sea,” he said. The contract for the project was awarded to Larsen & Toubro in March. The government has pegged the overall project cost (phase I and II) at Rs. 3,600 crore.