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MALAYSIA Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) will step-up efforts to check on the internal reticulation at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) to minimise the likelihood of passengers being inconvenienced by any pipe-bursts which may occur at the premises.

A MAHB spokesman said scheduled maintenance and inspections were carried out regularly across all facilities and services at the KKIA as part of the Airport’s preventive maintenance programme.

“This includes daily maintenance of the toilet facilities, as well as monthly inspections and servicing of the fire-fighting system, including components located above the ceiling area,” he said.

He explained that the sanitation facilities at the KKIA comprised 196 cubicles, 26 janitorial storerooms and four nappy-changing rooms.

The former included toilets for men, women and disabled individuals, according to him.

The spokesman was responding to a nine-second video, uploaded to social media earlier this week, which showed water streaming down from the ceiling near the entrance to one of the women’s toilets at the KKIA.

One Hotline reader, who saw the footage, wanted to know how a pipe servicing these amenities could have been compromised so quickly, when the toilets were only just refurbished by MAHB.

“This raises serious concerns about maintenance and safety, especially after RM11.8 million was allocated for toilet upgrades,” he said. “Tourists should be welcomed with proper facilities, not a ‘waterfall’ at the airport entrance.”

The spokesman confirmed the leak inside some toilets at the Airport, saying that a “fire sprinkler cap”, above the ceiling, unexpectedly burst on Tuesday.

He said a team of KKIA technicians was promptly deployed to manage the situation and ensure passenger safety.

“Upon identifying the source, the water supply running through the affected sprinkler was immediately shut off to facilitate the repairs,” he said. “The area surrounding the toilets was cordoned off temporarily as a safety precaution.”

He said the movement of airport-users and operations at the KKIA were not disrupted in anyway while the pipe was being dealt with.

The spokesman shot down the suggestion that passengers had been greeted by the sight of the leak upon disembarking at the KKIA, saying that the women’s toilets in question were located inside a Departure Hall on Level 2 of the Airport. 

“The incident took place at 10.40am and was fully resolved two hours later. The affected are was cleaned up and normal operations were restored about 12.40pm.”

When asked how the company could justify the occurrence of the leak, in light of the substantial cost involved in upgrading the KKIA toilets, the spokesman stressed that the incident was in no way related to any toilet irregularities at the Airport or the recent refurbishment of these amenities. 

“The fire sprinkler system has nothing do with the sanitation system for the Airport and, as such, was not part of the effort to upgrade the toilets here,” he said.

At the end of January, the company announced that RM11.8 million would be spent to renovate the KKIA toilets.

The refurbishment project was being undertaken to modernise these facilities, with the intention of keeping them in line with international standards of hygiene and accessibility, according to the management.

A press statement issued, at the time, explained that the work involved completely stripping out and replacing the plumbing systems, waterproofing, improving the drainage, upgrading certain mechanical and electrical systems and installing toilet fittings designed for high-traffic use.

MAHB estimated that “millions of passengers” travelled annually through the Airport which had been operating for over 20 years.

The first phase of the toilet renovations was completed in March 2025, while the second one wrapped up last month.

The management emphasised that the upgrades were part of ongoing efforts to ensure that KKIA remained safe, functional and fit-for-purpose, besides supporting sustained passenger-demand.