SUVARNABHUMI
AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK
Serirat Prasutanond, the director of Suvarnabhumi Airport, was yesterday appointed acting Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) president, following the resignation of Chana U-sathaporn. The AoT board has asked Mr Serirat to speed up the overdue payment of over six billion baht for extra construction work carried out by contractors at Suvarnabhumi airport that AM Chana and his predecessors were reluctant to approve, said an AoT source.
The work included 534 alteration orders, eight additional jobs under existing contracts, and 35 other separate assignments. Most of the work was undertaken by the ITO Joint Venture, the developer of Suvarnabhumi airport.
The Transport Ministry is said to be behind the payment acceleration. Mr Serirat was reportedly ordered to complete the payments within 45 days.
The source said AM Chana was reluctant to endorse the payments right away because many details needed to be cross-checked as some items considered important had not been properly documented.
Not only AM Chana, but also his two predecessors, Chotisak Asapaviriya and Somchai Sawasdeepon, now AoT vice president, were reluctant to approve the payments for extra work that was not undertaken as part of the main contract.
Before appointing Mr Serirat as its acting president, the board first offered the job to Utsa Borisut and then to AoT chief financial officer Kulya Pakakrong, but both turned it down, said the source.
Apart from speeding up the six-billion-baht payment, Mr Serirat has also been told to accelerate the development of the airport's second phase worth 66 billion baht.
According to Surachai Thansitthipong, deputy permanent secretary for transport and an AoT board member, the AoT board approved AM Chana's June 27 resignation letter on Thursday. But his resignation will take effect on Aug 5.
Although it was reported that AM Chana faced political pressure to speed up the payments, he cited health problems as the reason for resigning.
Apart from the resignation, the AoT board also approved the evaluation of AM Chana's six-month performance as of May, giving him very high scores and rewarding him with a 5% pay rise, or 30,000 baht, on the 600,000-baht monthly salary he receives.
The rise took effect retroactively from May 5 and will continue until Aug 5.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Next
