NEW DELHI, Jan. 18 (Sputnik) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that the Statue of Unity in India's Kevadiya town in the western state of Gujarat will soon be more a popular tourist attraction than New York's Statue of Liberty in terms of visitor numbers.

After flagging off eight new trains to Kevadia via a video conference, Modi said they will increase tourist numbers to the town to over 100,000 every day.

“More than 5 mln tourists visited the Statue of Unity in Gujarat since its inauguration in October 2018 until the time the pandemic struck. A survey has estimated that about 100,000 will visit Kevadiya daily to see the Statue of Unity," the PM said.

The statue was inaugurated by Modi in October 2018 and cost $437 million. It's located on the Narmada River facing the Sardar Sarovar Dam.

The world's tallest statue – the Statue of Unity in India's Gujarat state – stands at 182 metres tall. The colossal monument is of Sardar Vallab Bhai Patel, first deputy prime minister of independent India. He helped unite 562 princely states with a major part of the former British Raj to form the Union of India.