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<br />substantially overstated the benefits to be derived from the irrigation function, which <br />understated reimbursable cost recovery. The Bureau did not agree to remove <br />indirect irrigation benefits from the cost allocation and repayment computations on <br />the basis that the Central Arizona Project was authorized with indirect benefits and <br />the repayment contract was negotiated assuming use of the Bureau's cost allocation <br />methodology, In our March 1993 referral memorandum to the Assistant Secretary <br />for Policy, Management and Budget, we stated that the repayment contract did not . <br />require inclusion of indirect benefits and that removal of the indirect benefits was <br />within the purview of the Bureau, In a November 1993 internal report on the <br />current status of the Central Arizona Project, 6 the Bureau stated that because of <br />low crop prices and yields, the irrigation benefits to be derived from the Project were <br />now probably less than originally anticipated and irrigators would be unable to meet <br />their financial obligations, <br /> <br />- "Bonneville's Irrigation and Drainage System Is Not Economically Justified" <br />(No, GAOIRCED-91-73), issued in January 1991, concluded that the irrigation and <br />drainage system of the Central Utah Project's Bonneville Unit was not economically <br />justified, Although the report contained no recommendations, the General <br />Accounting Office recognized that the final decision on system construction was a <br />policy judgment for the Congress and that other factors may need to be considered <br />in making the decision, Subsequently, Congress passed the Central Utah Project <br />Completion Act, which provided for construction of an irrigation and drainage <br />system for the Bonneville Unit and other Project facilities by the Central Utah Water <br />Conservancy District, funding for which would be generally shared between Federal <br />and non-Federal entities on a 65 percent and 35 percent basis, respectively, <br /> <br />6Lower Colorado Region, Bureau of Reclamation, report "Current Status and Analysis for Central <br />Arizona Project Financial Restructuring," dated November 1993. <br /> <br />8 <br />