Upon application by any landowner, holder of any easement, or holder of any lease of five or more years’ duration, or of any group or association of such landowners, easement holders, or leaseholders for an irrigation project, the commission shall make such preliminary engineering, soil survey, and other investigations as may be necessary to determine the feasibility of any such proposed project. Such applicant shall submit with the application such fees as the commission shall establish for projects of different classes. Following such preliminary survey and upon further application by the applicant, the commission shall enter into a contract with such applicant for a complete engineering, soil survey, and other investigations of said project. The soil survey shall meet such standards as are prescribed by the bureau of chemistry and soils of the federal government and the North Dakota state university of agriculture and applied science. The engineering survey shall be of sufficient detail and quality to enable the applicant to comply with the requirements for obtaining a permit to appropriate water, and to enable any competent contractor to estimate costs and quantities of material needed within reasonable limits, and to install such project without further engineering service. The contract for such engineering service between the applicant and the commission shall require the commission to pay not more than seventy-five percent of the cost of such detailed engineering survey and the drawing of the necessary plans and specifications, with not less than twenty-five percent to be paid by the applicant.