Landowners in South Canterbury's Hunter Downs can now buy shares in the project designed to irrigate their soil.
Hunter Downs Irrigation Ltd (HDIL) has opened its combined investment statement and prospectus. Eight years after work began between the Hunter Downs Irrigation Scheme Trust (formerly the South Canterbury Irrigation Trust) and Meridian Energy, farmers were being asked for support and commitment, HDIL board chairman Andrew Fraser said.
The proposed irrigation scheme had the potential to provide significant growth for the community and substantial opportunities for future generations, he said.
A total of 40,000 shares in HDIL are on offer. The company wanted to raise $5.25 million for pre-construction work, to see if the scheme was viable technically and economically.
The work would include further resource consenting, land access, procuring constructors, and programmes to raise construction capital in the next two years.
Meridian was co-funding the feasibility costs with the Government's Irrigation Acceleration Fund, subject to a funding agreement with the Ministry for Primary Industries.
The scheme already has consent to take and use up to 20.5cumecs from the Waitaki River in a 60,000ha command area from Waimate to Otipua.
Mr Fraser said the offer would show the board where there was demand for the scheme. That would affect the scheme's alignment and design.
''There has never been a better opportunity to identify whether irrigation is viable in our region,'' he said.
''The scheme has the potential to future-proof agriculture, deliver environmental outcomes and provide a boost for the local economy and community.''
If the coming work showed the scheme was viable and enough capital was raised, construction was expected to start late in 2016 and water could be delivered from the beginning of the 2018-19 season.
The offer closes on April 4.
- by Sally Brooker