India plans to build the world’s tallest statue. Plans to construct a 597-foot-tall likeness of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel—one of the country’s national heroes and founding fathers—came to light on Thursday as the country released its latest annual budget. A passion project of newly-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the statue exists as a 2 billion rupees (about $34 million) item in the budget. If completed, it will stand nearly double the height of the Statue of Liberty and 42 feet taller than the Washington Monument.

Modi has championed the project for years, pitching it as a chance to increase India’s profile on the global stage. It is slated to be built in a rural nature preserve in Gujarat state, where the Modi served as chief minister before being elected Prime Minister earlier this year.

But, while flashy infrastructure and other building projects have long been a beacon of emerging economies climbing up the geopolitical ladder, the budgeted cost of Modi’s statue has irked more than a few. As highlighted by the AP, the budget allocation is double the 1 billion rupees ($16 million) India spends annually on education for young girls and a quarter more than the 1.5 billion rupees ($25 million) it spends on women’s safety programs. Numerous critics of the project have noted that for a country that has come continually under the gun in recent years for its pervasive culture of rape, such a budget allocation is troubling to say the least.

And, according to local reports, the actual budget needed to complete the project is much higher. They claim that the sculpture will actually cost 250 billion rupees, over ten times the current budgetary allocation. Government officials have said that the remaining sum will be provided by the private sector. However, it is unclear to what extent that fundraising campaign has been successful thus far.