Affected estates include Nyayo Embakasi, Donholm, Greenfields, Outering Road

NAIROBI, KENYA: If you live in any of Nairobi’s Eastlands suburbs, your taps will be dry over the next two days.

Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company said on Wednesday it will beginning today divert water supply to the densely populated part of the city to enable Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) to test its newly installed infrastructure.

The water firm said residential areas along the Outering Road, including Nyayo Embakasi, Donholm and Greenfields will between today and tomorrow go without water.

“The interruption will involve shutting down the Outering Road pipeline to facilitate hydrostatic testing at oil installations within the Kenya Pipeline depot in Industrial Area,” said the firm in a public notice on Wednesday. Most parts of the city are already grappling with a crippling water shortage, which is set to be aggravated by the two-day closure.

Commissioning delays

Meanwhile, KPC said civil works on the new Sh48 billion Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline are complete and expects it to start operations by the end of the year. The project contractor, Zakhem International, is now expected to undertake hydro testing as well as install other essential equipment such as pump stations and booster pumps along the pipeline.

“The line 5 project is now in the final phase of development and will be ready for commissioning by the end of this year,” said Zakhem Ibrahim, chief executive Zakhem International Construction in a statement. Though the pipeline faced delays and its commissioning has been moved on several occasions, the new completion date raises hopes of lower road maintenance costs given the hundreds of trucks the new line will remove from the country’s roads.

The new 450km pipeline is expected to replace the existing Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline that has been in operation for 39 years.