Law Gek Soon Road in the early 70's

Law Gek Soon Road - view towards the Kemena River, 1970's
Note the old fish market at the center far background.

 This is the general view of Bintulu in the early 70's.  It was a small and sleepy town.  It's status was  a mere sub-district of Miri Division.  It has started to have a bus service and a few cars, including a jeep as seen in the picture above.  The shophouses on both sides of Law Gek Soon Road were built using posts and beams of belian timber and roofing of belian shingles.  The road was named after Law Gek Soon who was the first government Chief Clerk of Bintulu.  The shopkeepers lived on the first floor of the shophouses.  The shop at the extreme  left corner of the row belonged to Tai Hua Hardware.  It was from this shop that I ordered my 'scrambler', and was the first 'scrambler' (Yamaha Trail 125cc) to be seen in Bintulu.  The early 70's were pre- economic boom period.  The picture below shows the place during the fourth boom.

Law Gek Soon Road - view towards the Kemena River,27 June'14
Period : Bintulu during Fourth economic boom.
Note the blue coloured building at far center of the picture.  It replaced the old fish market (partly seen in the very top picture)
The blue building is named 'Pasar Utama' which houses a wet and dry market on the ground floor and a food court at the first floor.

The Kidurong Highway in 1990

The Kidurong highway road in August, 1990.
The road would serve as a main link from Bintulu town centre to Kidurong industrial zone, home to the major industrial projects which help propelled Bintulu into a series of economic booms starting  in 1979. Note the planting of easy or little maintenance and colourful shrubs at the central median.  The main shrubs planted for their colourful bracts are the Bouganvillea and Mussaenda species.

The Kidurong highway road , taken on 4 February, 2014.
Note the planting of Tabebuia rosea trees at the central median which was done in the mid 1990's.  The fully matured huge Angsana trees (Pterocarpus indicus) remains a unique character of Bintulu roadside landscaping which started in a big way in 1980's and continues to present day.

Any visitor who comes into Bintulu town will observe the extent of roadside landscaping done to the town which is not seen in other major towns of Sarawak, except the capital city of Sarawak i.e. Kuching.  The construction of roads infrastructure was critical for a booming town and it was envisioned early in the 1980's that the main roads would be of 4-lane dual carriageways to serve Bintulu's impending future growth and development in population, economic prospects, new townships and industrial zones. It was planned that the dual-carriageways would serve for at least a period of 20 years of continuous growth momentum in the Bintulu economic landscape.   One of the longest highway road linking Bintulu town to the new industrial zone of Kidurong was the Kidurong Highway road which is about 20 kilometers in length. In the 1980's the whole length of the road was planted with roadside trees, mainly the Angsana (Pterocarpus indicus) and Rain tree (Samanea saman) species.  Only in the mid 1990's were the central median of the highway planted with the Tabebuia rosea species.  There are many other species of roadside trees planted in Bintulu and to get some idea of the later species planted, please check them out in my blog here...>>>http://mybintuluclicks.blogspot.com/search/label/Roadside%20Trees

The Nyabau fishery station road in 1986

The road leading to Agriculture Department's fishery station - sometimes called Nyabau Fishery Station
Picture taken on 16 February 1981

 The existing Pantai Temasya is located at Tanjung Batu.  Further up Tanjung Batu going north is a place called Nyabau and in the 70's there was fishery station that was popularly visited by students and other interested parties especially for educational visits.  The road leading to the station was not very well maintained and at certain locations was disconnected because of many small streams that transversed it.  Today, a two-lane single carriageway replaces the old fishery station road and is an alternative route to reach Kidurong township by the Tanjung Batu coastal scenic road.  This road extension from Pantai Temasya is a popular beach destination for viewing the Bintulu sunset, family picnics and for many other relaxing activities related to the beach or sea like photography, sightseeing, jogging,etc.

Today a proper 2-lane single carriageway replaces the old earth road. This road is an extension from the Pantai Temasya and passes the Bintulu Golf Course (2nd Nine or Links Course) and leads to the ABF (Asean Bintulu
Fertiliser) housing site.
Date taken : 30 January, 2014.

This new extension road from Pantai Temasya is very well utilised because it provides people staying at the Kidurong township an alternative route to their housing area which is less busy than the main Kidurong highway and offers a much pleasant driving experience with a view of the sea.  This extension road together with the existing one starting at Taman Tumbina and passing the Pantai Temasya may just as well be referred to as "Jalan Pantai Temasya".

Roundabout 3 in 1990

Roundabout 3 - view looking towards Bintulu- Miri Road
Location : The R 3 is located 3 miles ( 5 km)  from Bintulu town centre
Date taken : 14 August,1990

 In 1990 there were four roundabouts in Bintulu.  The picture above shows the Roundabout 3, located at Km 5, Bintulu- Miri Road.  It was the biggest roundabout in Bintulu in the 1990's.  Over time all the four roundabouts were replaced with traffic lights junctions.  The building on top of the hill to the right is located within the Bintulu Police Divisional complex.  The yellow cover at the foreground are the yellow variety leaves of the Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) which was a popular ground cover for landscaping in the 1990's.  In the 1990's the landscaping and beautification of Bintulu were a cooperative effort involving three major agencies..i.e. the JKR (Public Works), SESCO and BDA. 

Traffic Lights junction replaced the roundabout
Picture taken : 28 January, 2014.

Aerial view of Roundabout 3 showing the landscaping works at the roundabout and traffic islands surrounding it.
Date taken : circa 1990
Note the striking yellow colours of the Sweet potato cover plant at the traffic islands surrounding the roundabout.
The roadside planting and roundabouts landscaping during this time were  mainly advised by Arthur George Alphonso, Bintulu's first horticultural consultant....go here to see some other projects George was involved in Bintulu ..>>http://mybintuluhistory.blogspot.com/2007/09/bintulus-first-horticultural-consultant.html

Jalan Mesjid at Kampung Dagang in 1979

Jalan Mesjid in 1979 (Colour photograph)
Picture shows me and my sisters, cousin and nephews posing in front of my car Mazda 323 saloon parked on the right side of the Jalan Mesjid, looking towards the kampung area.
Note the tall 'Pinang' (betel nut) and coconut trees over-topping the kampung houses.

 As part of the multiplier effects of the Bintulu's first economic boom (1979-85) there arose a pressing need for more and better commercial shophouses in Bintulu.  The Kampung Dagang which shared the limit of the town's boundary was sliced for development.  There were two developers involved in the project.  In Phase One, Bintulu Realty Estate Sdn Bhd developed 1.44 hectares of land with 36 landowners.  Phase Two of the project was developed by Hock Peng Realty Sdn Bhd on a 4.12 hectares piece of adjoining land.  The Phase two involved 146 landowners.  As part of the deal in Phase Two of the project, the landowners owned shares in the new shophouses besides receiving cash compensation to help them out in their resettlement expenses.  It was estimated that the Kampung Dagang Commercial development project resulted in about RM 50 million worth of real property and cash compensation to the 182 mainly Malay and Melanau landowners.

Jalan Mesjid taken on 6 January 2014, at the same spot in the top pic .
Today the road is a single carriageway 4-lane street.