New boss to join water company

Laurence MacKenzie is currently head of Northern Ireland Electricity

NI Water has appointed Laurence MacKenzie as its new chief executive. He is currently head of Northern Ireland Electricity.

The previous NI Water boss, Katherine Bryan, resigned after the company made a multi-million pound mistake in forecasting its revenues.

The company's chairman Chris Mellor has been acting chief executive since Ms Bryan resigned in May 2008.

Mr MacKenzie is expected to take up his post in the summer.

The Department of Regional Development said a "rigorous recruitment process" was carried out.

Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy said the appointment came at a "critical time in the transformation of the provision of water and sewerage services".

"I look forward to Mr MacKenzie, who has considerable experience of operating at board level within another local utility company, taking up his role at NI Water," said Mr Murphy.

Earlier this month, the Minister announced a consultation in the provision of water and sewerage services over the next four years, focussing on improving services to customers, promoting sustainability, making NI Water more efficient and meeting environmental obligations.

In November, the Executive decided to defer the collection of water charges for another year.