Regina based Clifton Associates Limited (Clifton) successfully completed a two-staged procurement process consisting of a request for qualifications and a request for proposals.

Clifton will spend the next 12 to 18 months on the preliminary designs for Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Expansion.

“I would describe it as the first high level engineering work that’s going to be done,” said Jim Reiter, minister responsible for SaskBuilds and Procurement. “They will do geotech work, do the soil work, the geographic mapping—the first kind of key work that is going to be done.”

Clifton has spent more than a decade involved in a variety of irrigation studies within Saskatchewan.

The company will also play a central role in consultations with First Nations and other stakeholders to begin in the near future. Reiter says there will be careful assessment of potential impact to environmental protection, downstream users and communities.

The provincial government estimates the $4 billion Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Expansion project could double the area of irrigable land in the province. It also projects an estimated 2,500 jobs per year during the 10-year construction phase.

An official announcement on federal funding for the massive mega-project has not been made—but former Saskatchewan Liberal MP Ralph Goodale is a big supporter of irrigation expansion.