Mile 2

At Mile 2 - at  left of the picture is the Petronas petrol station and in the background is the Bintulu Light Industrial Estat.e
The trees at right are the Angsana (Pterocarpus indicus) grown from stumps.
Date taken : 13 May 1984

 In 1984 there is a 40 kilometers road that radiated from the existing town to the new federal port at Tanjung Kidurong. Tree planting along both sides of the road shoulders were carried out diligently .  Once the road shoulders planting were completed, the central median road were improved with grass planting, shrubs and palms.  In the picture above the central median has not been planted.

Date taken : 30 August 2013

Today after about 30 years, the Angsana trees look towering, providing the identity of green Bintulu, shade and beauty when they flowers.  All areas at the central median and road shoulders are planted with  'cow grass' (Axonopus compressus) and maintained regularly by the local authority appointed contractors.

Bintulu old food market - 1970's to early 1980's

The food market is at the right of the picture (late 1970's - early 1980's)

 There was a food market at the center of Bintulu town in the 1970's.  It served well the small population with coffee shops, eating stalls, vegetables and meat all under one roof.  Both halal and non-halal food were available (see pic above).  The visible signs of modernisation set in the form of concrete shophouses which ultimately replaced all wooden shophouses around the town. Roads had to be widened to allow for more vehicular traffic.  The Keppel road became a fully paved or tar-sealed two-way street.  Today there is absolutely not a single remnant of these old type wooden shophouses in Bintulu town.

Keppel road today with the site of old market turned into a landscaped area.
Date taken : 30 August'13

The old food market was gone in the 1980's to give way for more car parking spaces.  However, the site was permanently turned into a landscaped area in the late 1980's.  Today the Keppel Road fronting the site has been turned into a one-way street.

From a sleepy town and fishing village to a boom town