It is a building to match his bravado. Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, is planning a £15m monument to rival the Eiffel Tower and seal his legacy.

The magnificent edifice will be put up in the capital’s Olympic Park in time for the 2012 Games and will be funded by the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal — Britain’s richest man.

However, as vanity projects go, it is likely to be compared with the “wedding cake” that Mussolini completed in Rome or the 250ft gold statue that Saparmurat Niyazov, a former Turkmen dictator, commissioned to loom over his capital and rotate to face the sun.

Johnson had even pledged to crack down on tall buildings in his mayoral manifesto, describing London’s skyline as “precious”.

As a classics scholar at Oxford, Johnson will recall Shelley’s Ozymandias, a poem in tribute to a vainglorious project: “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings, Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”

One early design for what may be nicknamed the “Piffle Tower” — after “it’s an inverted pyramid of piffle”, Johnson’s denial of allegations in 2004 of an affair with the writer Petronella Wyatt — features a 400ft structure resembling a cross between a pylon and a native American totem pole. It would mirror the 436ft arch above Wembley Stadium on the other side of London.

A panel is considering five shortlisted artists for the commission, and the winning sculpture is likely to be announced within the next fortnight. So far there are no inverted pyramids. The five artists are believed to include the former Turner prize winner Anish Kapoor and Antony Gormley, the designer of the Angel of the North.

One early submission by Paul Fryer shows the monumental scale of the project. His proposed sculpture, called Transmission, features a translucent structure with viewing decks towering above the Olympic Park. Its steel frame is inspired by a pylon — perhaps in a nod to Mittal’s business, which has earned his family a £10.8 billion fortune.

It would be lit at night and powered by solar panels. The new sculpture is part of an extensive cultural programme planned to celebrate the 2012 Olympics.

Twelve public artworks commissioned by the Cultural Olympiad last week to celebrate the Games include a giant figure of Lady Godiva, which will be led in procession from Coventry to London, a three-mile tower of vapour rising from a dock in Liverpool, a pair of 30ft crocheted lions and a tiny island that will be tugged from the Arctic to England to provoke discussion about climate change.

The works are part of a £5.4m project called Artists Taking the Lead, funded by the Arts Council. However, if Fryer’s design is anything to go by, Johnson’s project will take the nation’s appetite for public art to new heights. The sculpture could be six times taller than the Angel of the North near Gateshead, and would dwarf the £2m, 164ft statue of a white horse that is being designed by Mark Wallinger for Kent.

A source close to Johnson said: “He wants to build something quite stunning in its ambition, like the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty — a tribute to London that people will fall in love with.”

Securing funding for the project is a coup for Johnson, who, since the recession took hold, has been urging London’s super-rich to “give something back to society”.

The mayor has said he wants to encourage an “American-style culture of philanthropy”, with wealthy bankers and businessmen donating to the arts, education and transport.

A friend of 59-year-old Mittal, who has previously donated £2m to Labour, said: “He loves living in London and wants to give something back to the city. The Olympics are obviously a very important event and he wants to be able to contribute to a legacy project that people will be able to enjoy for many years to come.”

Although Mittal remains at the top of The Sunday Times Rich List, his wealth has plunged by £16.9 billion in a year because of turmoil in the stock market and fears of declining demand for steel. Mittal and his wife Usha live in a mansion in Kensington Palace Gardens, which he bought in 2004 from the Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone for £57m.

A spokesman for Johnson said: “The mayor is keen to see stunning, ambitious, world-class art in the Olympic Park and has been working with the Olympic Delivery Authority over many months to explore a series of commissioning projects. He is also in touch with prominent figures in the art establishment and philanthropists about taking these forward and getting private backing. This work is at an early stage and details will be announced when the projects are confirmed.”

Brian Sewell, the art critic, said: “Our country is littered with public art of absolutely no merit. We are entering a new period of fascist gigantism. These are monuments to egos and you couldn't find a more monumental ego than Boris.”

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