Although -- well, it is disappointing, you know, that $40 million is being removed from the -- you know, removed from the capital budget. It would have been nice if that $40 million was left alone and, you know, look at it as a down payment, you know, left it as a down payment for replacement costs, for a replacement then rather than a retrofit. It would have been nice just left it alone because there's no guarantee that, you know, we will be building the school anytime soon. It's going to -- you know, the planning stage can take five years. So, you know, don't know the -- you don't know the timelines too as well.
So, yeah, it would have been nice because the school is very important for our Tlicho youth and, like we've said before, I said it and Tlicho government has said it before, the school is 50 years old. It is old, and it was built by the federal government of the day without consulting the people. And for 50 years, the young people have been -- you know, like, have been going from Behchoko to Edzo school, and it takes at least roughly about an hour to get from Behchoko. You know, the return trip is, like, roughly about an hour, you know, to be on the road, especially on the main highway coming from that junction to Edzo, it's Highway 3, part of Highway 3, and it's the main route. It's a very busy route. And attendance -- so what we've seen in the past too is that when the student miss the bus what they've done in the past is that they go -- they hitchhike on the highway from Behchoko, you know, and when the school was going through the retrofit, same thing; students were hitchhiking from Edzo to Behchoko as well, you know. And it goes both ways. So it's really a disadvantage for our young people. So that's why the school is very important for our youth, Tlicho youth, and that's why I really support the Tlicho government on building a new school in our community in Behchoko.
It's not just that one alone too. There's a Whati School as well but I see that there's no project in there -- it was in here. But that one I will, you know, talk to you more about it after. But it's just CJBS $40 million is a lot of money, and it would have been nice just to left it in there as a -- you know, as a down payment.