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Bintulu is a small town on the coast of
Sarawak, approximately mid-way between
Sibu to the South-west and Miri to the North-east. It is
365 km (by air) from Kuching.
 In the 1960's Bintulu
existed mainly on the basis of fishing and the timber
trade, with the Kemena River providing a convenient
access to the sea for the timber cut from inland
forests.
A study commissioned by the Sarawak State Government
in 1975, at which time Federal Government consideration
was also being given to the need for harbour facilities
for the vessels which would serve the
LNG
project, itself destined to be built just north of
Tanjung Kidurong. It was decided that the LNG carriers
would berth in the proposed new harbour. These two
developments-the LNG plant itself and the deepwater
port-provided the main impetus for the robust growth of
Bintulu from late 1978 onwards.
 Site preparation for
the LNG project started in March 1979 and the field work
on the main plant construction contract began in
December that year. On the other hands, the construction
of the new port began in October 1979. These activities
resulted in a rapid in flow of workers to Bintulu. Thus,
by 1980 the population of the town had reached 28,000.
In addition of the above projects, the development of
a branch campus of the Agriculture University of
Malaysia (a.k.a Malaysian Putra University - UPU) was
started in Bintulu and in April 1982 work on the
Asian
Bintulu Fertilizer Project began.
All these activities called for the expansion of
supporting services, notably the building of a new water
supply project and a substantial increase in the
electricity supply by the SESCO (Sarawak Electricity
Supply Corporation).
To sustain and support these projects, a new bridge
over the Kemena River was built in 1982; this is the
longest bridge (458 metres) in Sarawak and provides a
vital link betweeb the trunk road from Brunei to the
north, to Bintulu, Sibu and Kuching, covering a distance
of 1000km.
 At the present,
Bintulu is still served by a small airport almost in the
centre of the town itself, with the runaway of 1220 metres in length. This runway is of course not long
enough to handle the modern jets and since expansion is
not possible at the present site, a new airport will be
built in near future. The present site will be featured
in the plans for the redevelopment of the Bintulu town
centre.
The planning and co-ordination of these
infrastructure projects is handled by the
BDA
(Bintulu Development Authority), created in 1978
specifically for this purpose. In addition to these
roles, the BDA also administers land, undertakes
business ventures either alone or on a partnership basis
and assumes the functions of the Local Authority.
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