A 106 metre statue of King Shaka Zulu ka Senzangakhona will be built on the banks of Thukela River north of Durban, the Weekender newspaper reported on Saturday.
The statue would cost R200-million to build and was expected to be 13 metres higher than the Statue of Liberty in New York.
In his state of the province address, KwaZulu-Natal premier Sbu Ndebele announced a memorandum of understanding with a Dubai based developer for the erection of the statue.
He suggested that the statue would become a tourist destination like the Statue of Liberty and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Among the justifications given for the project were economic consideration.
In addition to the Dubai developers, the project has the support of the Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal, the province's heritage body, Amafa and the Ingonyama Trust, which administers traditional land.
The support was premised on the idea that the R200-million project would deliver significant benefits for the tourism sector, the newspaper reported.
The feasibility study estimated that the statue would attract 4 000, presumably paying, visitors a day.
The statue will be built near the resort village of Blythedale, 90km north of Durban, which may be inaccessible to the millions of tourists who visit the province each year, said the Weekender.
It was not clear why an alternative proposal to build the statue at the mouth of Durban harbour was turned down.
The provincial government will not be putting up any funding for the project.
"(The) imposing statue will be erected through private funding," said Ndebele.
A concept proposal from his office suggested private funders could expect a 25 percent return in the first year. - Sapa