Decision today on future of aot chief

On Tuesday, AOT's board refrained from making a final decision on Chana's future despite growing pressure from politicians who want to replace him with someone more ready to cooperate with them.

However, the board set up a subcommittee chaired by Finance deputy permanent secretary Utid Tamwatin to evaluate Chana's performance. The subcommittee's decision will be presented to the board next week.

An inside source said the evaluation was delayed because Chana had asked the board to allow him to pass the evaluation, after which he would submit his resignation. That would leave his reputation untarnished if he sought to return to the Royal Thai Air Force.

"However, the board fears that if Chana does not resign as promised, AOT will need to dismiss him and risk having to pay millions of baht in compensation. Another option is to resolve that Chana does not pass the evaluation and to appoint a director or senior executive vice president as acting president," the source said.

After taking office late last year, Chana is said to have been under pressure to push bids for several projects in Suvarnabhumi Airport's second phase of development, despite government approval for Bt74 billion worth of work.

The source said Chana had also been forced to authorise payment of variation orders (VOs) - extra jobs that occurred on top of those contracted for construction of the airport. Most of VOs were signed during the Thaksin government, but more than Bt10 billion were still not paid. Most are owed to Italian-Thai Development, which is raising funds to bid for construction contracts for the Purple Line rapid-transit project.