Nairobi City County has successfully negotiated $100 million (Sh15 billion) funding from the Korean government for the construction of the second Northern Collector Tunnel, Governor Johnson Sakaja announced on Monday.
Mr Sakaja told county staff during the inaugural City Hall Thanksgiving Service that his administration and the National Treasury are in the process of receiving the $100 million.
“We have received $100 million from Korea to construct the second Northern Collector Tunnel and the Maragua water project, which will give us 220 million cubic metres of water per day by 2027,” Mr Sakaja said during the prayers held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre.
“This will give us the quantity of water that Nairobi residents need per day. We are talking to the National Treasury and the President to finalise the deal with Korea. The Nairobi County government will undertake the project. I want to assure you that we now have the money to end our water problems,” he added.
Mr Sakaja said Nairobi has had a perennial water shortage problem. He noted that over five million Nairobi residents have been relying on Kikuyu springs, Ruiru, Sasumua and Ndakaini dams for water.
The county boss added that the first phase of the Northern Collector Tunnel is expected to be completed in the next few months.
“By February or March 2024, we expect to get an extra 140 million cubic metres of water per day from the Northern Collector Tunnel and this will reduce the shortfall,” Mr Sakaja said.
Nairobi residents have been subjected to water rationing and irregular water supply since 2017. But this is likely to change if the elaborate plan by different agencies is implemented successfully.
The plan involves bringing online three new dams—Kariminu II, Maragua IV and Ndarugo—which will allow the water agencies to pump in an additional 320,000 cubic metres of water daily to the city in the short-term.
Once completed, the projects will supplement water that will be pumped to the city via the completed Northern Water Collector Tunnel, which will supply 140 million cubic metres daily.
This will see the water supply deficit in the city, which currently stands at 350,000 cubic metres, plugged and a surplus left.
The Northern Water Collector Tunnel system and Kariminu dam would partly solve recurrent water problems in Nairobi. The water supply system entails the construction of an 11.8km underground tunnel that draws floodwater from the Maragua, Gikigie and Irati rivers.
The project has three main components—a tunnel that cost about Sh8.5 billion, a Sh4.5 billion water treatment plant and pipelines costing about Sh7.5 billion. Land compensation cost Sh8 billion, raising the total to about Sh30 billion.
The piping will be from Thika Dam to Gigiri reservoirs in Nairobi before the water is distributed across the capital city and its environs.
