SINGAPORE - Commissioner of Police Ng Joo Hee will be appointed chief executive of national water agency PUB with effect from Jan 6 next year, said the Environment and Water Resources Ministry (MEWR) in a statement on Wednesday.

The 48-year-old will concurrently hold the appointment of Deputy Secretary (Special Duties) in MEWR.

PUB's former chief executive Chew Men Leong had held spent three years at the helm before joining the Land Transport Authority as its chief executive on Oct 1.

MEWR added in the statement that PUB had under Mr Chew's leadership enhanced flood protection, boosted the nation's water research, and set new benchmarks for industrial water efficiency.

Mr Ng, a Singapore Police Force (SPF) Overseas Scholarship recipient who has served the police for 29 years, was appointed Commissioner of Police in Feb 2010. Prior to that, he was director of the Singapore Prisons Service from 2007 to 2009.

He has held key appointments throughout his police career, including officer commanding of SPF's elite Special Tactics and Rescue Unit (Star), commander of Police Central Division, deputy director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and director of the Police Intelligence Department. He also served from 1998 to 1999 as a dual career officer in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and was appointed to the Administative Service in 1999.

Mr Ng graduated from the University of Oxford in Britain with a Bachelor of Arts in engineering and economics. He also obtained a Master of Business Administration in accountancy from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University in the United States.