Panaji, July 27 (IANS): The Goa government would likely finalise a tender for the construction of the Mopa Greenfield airport in north Goa by December, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said on Monday.

The tender for airport construction on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis would be issued by December 2015, he said in a written reply in the Goa legislative assembly.

"It is proposed to issue the request for proposal and concession agreement to the technically qualified bidders in August 2015. The evaluation of request for qualification applications will be done based on technical criteria and financial threshold... The tender is likely to be finalised by December 2015," Parsekar said.

Meanwhile, the involvement of Louis Berger -- an international consultancy firm whose officials were caught in a bribery scandal earlier this month -- in the airport project as technical consultants has triggered a controversy.

The proposed airport, located on the Mopa plateau 50 km from Panaji, is in addition to the existing international airport at Dabolim in south Goa.

Louis Berger were appointed as technical consultants for the project a year back.

Top officials of Louis Berger have already pleaded guilty to offering bribes of $3.9 million to secure contracts in countries such as India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Kuwait.

While the settlement announced by the US Justice Department did not identify the politicians and officials offered the bribes, the documents revealed that an amount of $976,630 was paid during 2009-2010 to a Goa minister and other officials.

Louis Berger was part of a consortium that eventually won a contract to execute a multi-billion dollar water and sewerage project in Goa funded by the Japan International Co-Operation Agency (JICA).