Subsequent to the inundation and great flood-damage at the main Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) campus on 21 October 2011; AIT has been making a concerted effort to recover, rehabilitate, rebuild and upgrade its main AIT campus. In such efforts, the AIT Main Campus Rebuilding and Upgrading Committee was created on 2 December 2011, with Dr. Naveed Anwar, Executive Director at AIT Consulting as the committee coordinator. The committee of AIT leaders and external experts is responsible for coordinating the rehabilitatation and upgrade of the main AIT campus, while at the same time making it more environmentally friendly, sustainable and safe. The rehabilitation plan is closely tied to the previously developed AIT campus master plan, of which various aspects are ready to be implemented.
The AIT Main Campus Rebuilding and Upgrading Committee meets regularly and has already decided on a timeline for the return to main AIT Campus, announcing the resumption of academic classes at the Pathumthani campus to start from 15 February 2012. The committee also plans to create a modern environment-friendly lecture theatre complex through the remodeling of the AIT Extension Building. The new lecture theatre complex, which will house classrooms for all AIT students and will act as a central location of academic activities, is expected to be complete before graduation in May.
In parallel to committee tasks and activities, an external independent evaluation of the viability and integrity of the current location of the AIT campus will also be conducted to assess the possibility of future risks from similar disasters and to estimate the investment required to withstand such disasters.
The AIT Main Campus Rebuilding and Upgrading Committee members include Prof. Said Irandoust, President (Committee Chair); Dr. Naveed Anwar, Executive Director, AIT Consulting (Committee Coordinator); Prof. Sudip K. Rakshit, Vice President for Research; Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, Vice President for Resource Development; Professor S. Kumar, Faculty, SERD; Dr. Jonathan Shaw, Director AIT Extension; Dr. Sun Sayamipuk, Head, Contract Management Office; Mr. Noppadon Rittipongshusit, Head Finance; Mr. Avishek Karky, President, AIT Student Union; Mr. Stephen Andrews, Operations Director, Sodexo, Thailand.
The external committee members include Prof. Dr. Soontorn Boonyatikarn, Professor of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University; Dr. Ludovic Lacrosse, EEP Mekong, Chief Technical Advisor, AIT alumnus; Professor Waheed, Professor of Civil Engineering and Founder and Director of Center for Advanced Infrastructure Technology (CAIT), University of Mississippi, AIT alumnus; and Dr. Saeed Zaki, Executive Director – SE Asia and Managing Director – Thailand, dwp Limited, AIT alumnus.
