The Department of Economic Development will be paying for over $1.1 million in contracts awarded to the initial work packages for the Alaska-Canada railway link feasibility study, said Peter Laight, special projects manager with the Department of Economic Development.

The work packages are part of a feasibility study aimed at determining if a rail link between Alaska and Canada could become a reality in the future.

The study will look at market, technical, financial and public interest analysis of building the rail link, which is expected to meet up with existing railheads in northern British Columbia.

The Alaska-Canada study is expected to be in the $6 million US-range, and completed by the of summer 2006.

The Yukon Party government agreed to put $3 million toward the study. Canada's federal government has yet to commit any funds.

'Overall, the deal will be funded equally,' Laight said this morning

However, at this time, funds that are being used to pay Kells Boland, the project manager of the study, and the contracts awarded for the work packages are coming from the Yukon's Department of Economic Development, he said.

Where the funding will be allocated from may be further broken down and specified after the Yukon Party government passes their supplementary budget during their fall sitting in the legislature, said Laight.

At this time, the State of Alaska's contribution is made of up funding directed at Alaska University and work being conducted at their institution, he said.

'In the future the State of Alaska may make a direct financial contribution,' he said. 'In the end, it's 50-50. But we don't have all the details of the 50-50 until the supplementary budget is tabled.'

Laight added there are hopes that some of Canada's contribution, currently being fronted exclusively by the Yukon, will be made by the federal government.

So far 34 contracts have been awarded in relation to the feasibility study.

Eight have been given to three Yukon-based companies for a total of $474,381 of work.

Vector Research of Whitehorse will receive $27,375 to conduct short and mid-term market analysis; Yukon Engineering Services will receive $125,506 for technical analysis; and Gartner Lee Ltd., in partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, will receive $321,500 to carry out Geographic Information System (GIS) aspects of the research.

The money makes up approximately 45 per cent of the feasibility study funds so far.

Eight firms in Alaska have also been awarded work packages, however, no values have been attached to the work they will be conducting.

The city to have earned the largest number of work packages is Edmonton, with 10 contracts awarded, and a known value of $206,060 for seven of those contracts. The value of the remaining three is not yet known.

A Calgary firm, Landspoint, has been awarded two of the work packages, which also don't have a price tag attached to them. Don Dean is the name of the individual attached to the firm, who formerly worked for PROLOG Canada Inc., which is the consulting firm Kells Boland, the project manager of the feasibility study, also worked with.

Parts of the feasibility study have also been given to firms in Vancouver, Seattle and one company based in Florida.

There are also nine work packages that have yet to be assigned with an estimated value of $340,000, according to documents seen by the Star.

Projects that still have yet to be assigned include many of the long-range studies in the strategic opportunities analysis section of the project, which includes looking at processing and distribution, tourism and passenger traffic, the possibility of an international land bridge, multi-modal port access and highway and bulk port systems.

Boland said that there are now discussions about not assigning some of the work packages and instead hosting a seminar or symposium on the topics to get information from experts.

He said he hasn't yet been able to attract the type of people needed with the 'bigger view of the world', who would be interested in working on the types of packages that have yet to be assigned.

'These are people who understand the world in terms of trade, not what economic viability will be based on,' he said, adding that right now the study is more interested in looking at the economic feasibility of a rail link.

'We're figuring out how to do it and trying to get on with the nuts and bolts,' he said.

One of the key consulting firms will be UMA Group Ltd.

UMA provides engineering and maintenance to Canadian National Railway's freight yards and rail lines.

Boland said the firm is very important to the feasibility study because of their expertise in the railway industry and their connections to Canadian National.

Several work packages have already been awarded to UMA, though the price tag attached to it has not yet be released publicly.

Boland said he is impressed with the 'team' that has been recruited for the feasibility study so far.

'We got people that we never would have gotten if this had just gone to a single firm,' he said. 'It's a really good team, as a result of having gone to multiple firms.'

However, NDP Leader Todd Hardy expressed concern that a complete list of the firms awarded work packages have not been made available to the public.

In a press release issued by the study on Monday, only the names of the Yukon companies were included.

'I'm concerned about their method of releasing information,' said Hardy. 'It's not a very transparent process yet.'

Hardy said he is concerned the entire project may be a waste of taxpayers money, when other studies have already been conducted and have shown that the building of a rail link is not feasible.

'I have questions about the whole concept,' said Hardy, adding there has yet to be proof that there is any sort of buy-in into the project from the federal government, British Columbia or the private sector.

'(They government) has never been able to justify the project,' he said.

Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell agreed there needs to be interest from the public sector if a rail link is to become a reality.

'We need the private sector to see it as an economic winner and we need the government of Canada and the United States to see it as being in their national interest,' he said.

The fact that work packages have been contracted out to firms in Canada and the United States only shows that there is interest in getting the money that comes along with conducting the study, he added.

However, he said he didn't expect to see all the money allocated to Yukon companies, because the study is jointly being conducted with Alaska.

'But it might have been nice to see a little more at home,' he said.