Its minister, Zambry Abdul Kadir, said a total of RM5 million had been set aside to resolve Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s (UMS) water woes to date, Bernama reported.

He said part of the sum would be used to construct an underground pipe.

“There’s no issue on UMS’s side, but there could be other technical issues in terms of supplying a sufficient amount of water to the main pipes connected to the university,” he was quoted as saying.

In May 2023, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the federal government would channel RM3 million to the state government to resolve UMS’s water woes.

In January 2024, Zambry announced an additional allocation of RM2 million to UMS for the same purpose.

Last month, Zambry’s deputy, Mustapha Sakmud, blamed the water disruptions at UMS on the tube well, which he said could only supply one million litres of water daily. The campus needs five million litres a day.

The Sabah water department then urged the university to enhance its water pumping system as output from the well was sufficient to meet students’ daily needs.

A faulty indicator was blamed for the failing pumping system.