A decade-long plan to drought-proof farms in the Waihao basin, west of Waimate, could come a step closer to reality next week, when farmers are given a chance to approve the tentative $37.5 million cost to build the Waihao Downs Irrigation Scheme.
The scheme, which would provide irrigation water to more than 6800ha of farm land within a larger 14,000ha command area, would involve 43 properties, and allow for some farms to be drought-proofed and provide others with the capability to expand their use.
Waihao Downs Irrigation Ltd received resource consent to build the scheme in 2010, after first applying for consent eight years earlier.
Waihao Downs Irrigation chairman Paul Harrison said an option to build the scheme would now be put to its 40 stakeholders.
"Essentially, the farmers are the backers as such; the farmers have got the scheme to where it is now. We basically have got an indicative price to build the scheme, which will be put to the farmers within a week.
"We hope they come back to us basically giving us their indicative interest. At the moment, things are only at that stage."
The indicative price farmers would be looking at paying would equate to an annual charge of $800 per ha a year, which would cover the principal interest and establishment of the scheme, Mr Harrison said.
However, he said that price was only "indicative" of what the scheme was hoping to deliver.
"We are going to give them some time to make their decisions based on the indicative price. Once that process is done, we will have them signing up auto-user agreements, and once we have that, we can look then at building the scheme.
"It is contingent on the farmers signing auto-user agreements so then we know we have an agreement that they will take supply."
The Community Irrigation Fund and the Ministry for Primary Industries have backed the scheme by providing $200,000 towards planning. Although Mr Harrison said there were "still a few hoops to jump through," if stakeholders backed the cost proposals, the scheme would be closer to fruition.
A better understanding of how long it might take to implement the scheme would not become clear until stakeholders had responded to the indicative pricing structure, he said.
