my LANDSCAPING Story : Landscaping period

Monday, April 27, 2020

Once there was a nursery

Planting works with materials from Green Acres nursery, for one of the many MLNG houses at Kidurong township

Green Acres Nursery logo

In 1992, I set up a nursery business as one of the many ventures upon joining the private sector. The nursery business was run as a firm. It was to provide all the planting materials for landscaping jobs undertaken by another company of mine. Throughout the 1990's landscaping was a worthwhile business to go into because of the increasing number of residential houses built to meet the rising demand when more people began to work and stay in Bintulu as a result of the first boom period (1979-1983). Demand for landscaping jobs grew also from the corporate sectors and government organisations. The demand increased further during the second economic boom 1998 - 2000. To meet increased demand I decided to move the nursery from its small site in town to a new location about 22km away from town along the Bintulu-Tatau road. The nursery was instrumental in developing an eco-farm and finally a nature park on the same site but with expanded acreage. If not for the nursery my dream of having a nature park would not have been realised easily. To see more happenings today at the nature park, please go here .
Happy Malaysia Day, Sarawak!!

(Note: On the 16th of September, Sarawak will celebrate its independence being a party to the formation of Malaysia. As part of remembering history I'll create some posts on what it means to be a Malaysian as I have experienced it. Check out the rest of the postings by following this link here.)

Planting project for expatriate housing at Sanctuary Villa housing, near Park City, Bintulu

( Re-post from my blog :My Sarawak (3rd Ed.) -- -http://mysarawak2.blogspot.com/2014/09/once-there-was-nursery.html )

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Landscaping of SMDS Administrative area

Overall view of SMDS Administrative area (foreground with green roof).

In the background at left are the storage tanks of BCOT ( Bintulu Crude Oil Terminal) and on the right of the picture at the top is partly seen the MLNG Sdn Bhd Office Complex (white buildings) and the LNG plant complex towards right of the picture.

Date taken : 22 December, 2014.

The Shell SMDS plant located at Bintulu is the first of its kind in the world to convert natural gas into synthetic oil products. The products include high quality middle distillates such gasoil (diesel) and kerosene, as well as naptha, paraffins and wax. To undertake this project in Bintulu, a joint-venture company was incorporated in 1989 with the equity structure as follow :- Shell Gas BV (60%), Mitsubishi Corporation (20%), Petronas (10%) and Sarawak State Government (10%).

In 1992, I was involved with the landscaping of the administrative area of the SMDS plant (see inset). This job was one of the major landscaping works done by my company, Exxoplus Corporation Sdn Bhd. when it started operations in Bintulu in 1992. I was fortunate to have met Mr. H W Van der Woerdt who was the Construction Manager for the SMDS plant in Bintulu then. Pleased with my landscaping design proposal he later gave my company the job of actual planting the proposed design, besides just the design consultancy. This job kept me busy for the first few months since I started the company. Later in 1993, I did more landscaping jobs for the SMDS company especially in their housing area at Taman Matahari, Kidurong township. Below are some views of the administrative area taken on 30th July,1992 while on a site visit to the area.