The plan calls for converting the busway to a C-Train line by 2039. (CBC)

Calgary officials will spend money from the city coffers for planning studies on the Southeast Transitway.

Calgary needs $12 million to begin pre-design work for a buses-only road from downtown to southeast Calgary, which could eventually be converted to a C-Train line.

City officials expected millions of dollars from the province’s Green Transit Incentives Program, billed as a “one-time capital funding program that will support public transit in Alberta.”

But while provincial officials have approved the money, Mayor Naheed Nenshi says the city has yet to receive a cheque. Nenshi says he was told the reluctance to release the money is due to the province’s projected $2.3- to $3-billion deficit.

The Southeast Transitway would be unlike any of Calgary's other LRT lines because it would start as a dedicated bus road in places, connecting the east end of downtown with the southeast community of Seton.

Over time, the busway would be converted to a C-Train line at a total cost of $2.6 billion by 2039.