Nairobi — The much awaited Northern Collector Tunnel will be launched on February 25th 2023, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has a announced.

Governor Sakaja who made the announcement on Thursday said that the launch of the Sh8.2 billion project will be presided by President William Ruto.

Governor Sakaja said the launch of the project will see the end of the perennial water shortage in the city, as well as address sanitation.

"I want to thank the President because he has been extremely supportive and the northern collector that had been blocked because of a few issues has been unlocked and we will launch it on February 25th 2023," Governor Sakaja stated.

Following the announcement, the Governor told water cartels that their days are numbered saying that the new system to be put in place will make it impossible to do illegal connections.

"The water that was to come in 2024 will be coming in February this year. So water cartels your business is over," he added.

The Northern Collector Tunnel is set to pump 140 million litres of water daily into Nairobi.

The tunnel will channel water drawn from rivers Gikigie, Irati and Mathioya into Ndaka-ini dam.

The 11.8km tunnel has been financed by the French Development Agency and started in 2015 and was set for completion in 2024.

The project has three components, the tunnel, treatment plant and pipeline from the treatment plant to Gigiri reservoir in Nairobi.

Nairobi's current water demand is 790 million litres a day, and it gets 526 million litres a day from Ndakaini Dam, leaving a shortage of 264 million litres daily.

The shortage was projected to worsen with the Nairobi Water Masterplan showing the city will require 1.2 billion litres of water daily by 2035.

Water shortages in Nairobi has pushed residents to purchase water from water vendors and cartels.