Naming of Bechtel Exec Eases Crisis for ‘Chunnel’

John Neerhout, executive vice president of Bechtel, the giant construction firm based in San Francisco, was appointed liaison between feuding developers and builders of the rail tunnel that will link Britain and France under the Channel--a mammoth project threatened by cash disputes and personality clashes.

It will be Neerhout’s job to act as a buffer between the developers’ abrasive chief executive, Alastair Morton of Eurotunnel, and manage their contract with the builders, Transmanche Link (TML), Reuters reported from London. His appointment broke a deadlock in which Eurotunnel’s bankers refused to advance more money until the two sides settled their differences.

Eurotunnel said Neerhout’s appointment cleared the way now for fresh bank lending to keep diggers working on the 30-mile twin-track project, which is supposed to be completed in mid-1993.