N.W.T. Industry Minister Bob McLeod says some companies invested in the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline proposal can't hang on much longer for a federal government decision on financial support for the project. (CBC)

Contractors and suppliers can't wait too much longer for the federal government to signal its intentions for a proposed natural gas pipeline in the Northwest Territories, says the territory's industry minister.

Bob McLeod said businesses hoping to get involved with the long-proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline need to know if Ottawa will provide any financial support or incentive to the consortium of companies behind the $16.2-billion project.

"We have a lot of companies and businesses that have invested in equipment [and] have been waiting for this pipeline for quite a few years, and lot of are just hanging on," McLeod told CBC News in an interview Wednesday.

"Unless there's something positive that comes out in the next two months or so, I think it'd be very difficult for some of these businesses to continue to hang on."

The corporate consortium, led by Imperial Oil, wants to build a 1,200-kilometre gas pipeline through the Northwest Territories to the Alberta border, where natural gas would connect to existing pipelines and flow to southern markets.

The federally appointed Joint Review Panel has been evaluating the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the proposed project since 2004.

McLeod said he has been told the panel's report should be released before the end of this month.

Joint Review Panel staff would not confirm when the report will be released — many have speculated Dec. 31 — but they are expected to issue a notice with the release date soon.

If that happens, the National Energy Board has indicated it could hold final hearings on the project in April and render a ruling on the pipeline as early as late-September.