Keppel Road in 1980

Keppel Road in 1980
Credits: Pic from 'The Sarawak Tribune', dated 31 May,1980.

 In 1980 the town roads were gradually tar-sealed but the electric posts still remain at the center of the road.  The roads were mainly two-way street.  In 2013 all roads in town were mostly one way streets which seemed to solve the problem of traffic jams and improved further with traffic light junctions.

Keppel Road , 1 October, 2013.

In 1980 it was estimated that there were about 700 vehicles in Bintulu as compared with 40 in 1970.  In 1960 there was probably only 3 cars in town.  1980 was just the beginnng years of the first boom that brought much physical changes to the town especially the roads and the buildings.  Today, Bintulu is in its 4th economic boom.  The continuous boom that the town experienced since 1979 has made it the prime target of internal migration from other towns and villages in Sarawak for the promise of better paying jobs and business opportunities.

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.