A new irrigation scheme in Waimate costing up to $357 million is economically viable, but whether it will be built is up to farmers.
They have been asked to indicate by the end of this month whether they will inject more money to develop the scheme.
If all hurdles are eventually cleared, construction is set down to start in September 2016, first water flow-through stage 1 in September 2018 and finished by September 2019.
The Hunter Downs scheme has resource consents granted in April 2010 to take up to 20 cumecs of water from the Waitaki River to the northern area of the Waimate district to irrigate up to 32,000ha.
It would be one of the biggest irrigation schemes in New Zealand.
Yesterday, Hunter Downs Irrigation Ltd announced it had completed technical and economic feasibility studies which identified the scheme was viable.
Company chairman Andrew Fraser said existing shareholders, who held shares for 24,000ha, were being asked to reconfirm their support, which had so far enabled the viability studies to be done.
''We now know there are no major impediments to proceeding and many South Canterbury land users will be able to make this irrigation scheme work,'' he said.
Independent advisers fully priced the scheme as part of the study, concept designs coming in between $313 million and $357 million.
The latest costings were based on a preferred design to divert water from the Waitaki River at the Morven Glenavy Ikawai scheme intake at Bell's Pond, pump it into a piped network following State Highway 1, then deliver pressurised water by extensions to farmers who signed up.
A range of schemes and scheme types were assessed before it was determined this was the most feasible and affordable option.
The company was now asking farmers to confirm their support.
''We're sizing up the pipes for water demand at the moment. Changes in the number of shares and the location of demand will be considered before we confirm the final alignment and size of the scheme,'' Mr Fraser said.
If the scheme was funded by a mixture of loans and shares, an early estimate of the annual cost per ha was $3000 to $4500, subject to final design and costings. On-farm costs would be extra.
''The company is confident this scheme is the right choice and we're hoping to attract strong support. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for many of our farmers to access reliable water,'' he said.
