CEO governors

One of the policies of Thaksin Shinawatras government was the introduction of CEO governors, as a way to modernize and decentralize provincial government. Like most of the Thaksins programs it was scrapped after the coup, but now the reincarnation of TRT is leading the new government it will get revived. Bangkok Post reports

"We have completed drafting the new government's policies and up to 90 per cent are those that were scrapped after Mr Thaksin's forced departure," said Mr Noppadon. "Some of these include the Small Medium Large village fund scheme (SML), the government (two- and three-digit) lottery and the CEO governer scheme."

What is the CEO governors about, additionally to a modern sounding name. The traditional administration of the provinces consists of officers sent from the various ministries, who each report directly back to their superior in Bangkok. The governor, appointed by the ministry of Interior, had only very few administrative powers, but has mostly ceremonial tasks. The CEO governor on the other hand were given much more administrative powers. It became their task to plan the development in their province, and even were allowed to issue bonds to get additional funding for their projects. The CEO governor system was introduced in 2001 in some pilot provinces, and came into effect on all provinces in 2003.

I wonder if the new government will also revive the plans for the "Airport City" Nakhon Suvarnabhumi, which was finally shelved after the coup.