Panaji, Oct 4 (IANS): The Goa government is expected to earn Rs 15 lakh per day from the upcoming greenfield airport at Mopa, once it is operational, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Wednesday.

"If the airport is finished early, the state is likely to earn Rs 15 lakh per day of the revenue expected from the airport. A day's delay will cost us around Rs 15 lakh," Parrikar told a press conference at the State Secretariat, while underlining the need for speed in building the airport and commissioning the greenfield project.

The Mopa airport, 50 km from Panaji, is being developed by GMR Goa International Airports Limited, a subsidiary of GMR Airports, on a public private partnership basis. It is expected to become operational in 2020.

The state government is a 36.99 per cent partner in the venture, for which the subsidiary has already raised Rs 1,330 crore in the form of a loan from Axis Bank.

Parrikar said that 14 dhangar (a herdsmen tribe) families who had houses on the site would be rehabilitated and houses as well as grazing land for them would be allocated.