sign in a cave in Laos

20 December 2010

Tin dredge at Dengkil, Selangor




As far as I know there is only one remaining tin dredge in Selangor. I used to know of two, and have photos of them, taken from flights in/out of KLIA and LCCT.
Dredge from plane July 2007 -


When looking at Google Earth, one is still shown.
And I was able to find the location of the 2nd one by going back in the historical imagery on GE. This is quite a fascinating tool on GE. This dredge was at Payah Indah.
This is the Petaling Lake dredge -
Paya Indah July 2007

The 'missing' dredge at Paya Indah is Petaling Dredge No. 9, which as I suspected is a new one, built in 1982. This is a 5600 tonnes bucketline dredge equipped with 24 cu ft (680 litres) buckets and digs to a depth of 130 ft (40 m).

Several years ago there was talk in the press about converting this dredge into a museum. The Sun reported on this.

UPDATE January 2014 - According to Mohd Ezuddin Samian's comments below, this Petaling Dredge No. 9 had been sold and shipped overseas.

Dredges are still being constructed in Malaysia, at Port Klang (and also in Singapore). New ones have been sent to Ghana, Ecuador and Brazil.

Older Malaysian dredges have been sent overseas. One (PT7) has gone to Sierra Leone, 2 to Bangka Island in Indonesia. Another to Zaire.

Anyway on my birthday in Dec, Jan and I did a trip to see the last remaining dredge. It is located in Dengkil, and can be seen from the ELITE highway just before the last turn to the KLIA highway.

Jan photographing the dredge
highway signs

As we approached, a guard stationed on the dredge came to see who we were and immediately started talking into a walkie talkie. We talked to him across the water and asked if we could go onto the dredge, but he said no. He told us the dredge is up for sale, and might be bought by Australians, so that is why it is guarded. The Malay guard even had a dog, though the dog took no interest in us.

[The dredge was still there in Nov 2012, April 2015]

Putra Jaya behind the dredge -
tree growing on the tail
The buckets -
Front view


There are some nice pictures of the dredge on a blog, the photos were presumably taken before the dredge had any guard or fence around it.

The dredge seems to be in very good condition, especially compared to dredge T.T. No. 5 at Tanjung Tualang in Perak. I noticed it has moved slightly since the last GE image from Jan 2010.

UPDATE January 2014 - According to Mohd Ezuddin Samian's comments below, this dredge is the "Sri Banting Dredge". See details on OCIE page.

We saw a strange green building near the highway and went to have a look. Checking on GE shows it was built between 2007 and 2009. We went in and were totally amazed at the amount of stuff dumped there. Loads of childrens' toys, clothes, furniture. The place looked as if it had been almost fully constructed then was abandoned for whatever reason.
The dredge from the roof.

On the way out using a different track, we drove over a rubbish dump!
We then went to see some sand quarrying and a landfill site.
See more on Selangor Dreding history.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

25 comments:

  1. Bravo! You really have done your homework.

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  2. The 'missing' dredge in Dengkil actually named "Sri Banting Dredge" while Petaling Dredge No.9 already sold by OCI Engineering Sdn Bhd as a caretaker and shipped to undisclosed country.

    Love to see the last dredge and I'm not sure how to enter the site. Any suggestion how you enter the site Sir.

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    1. Thanks for the info.
      I don't think you can enter the site as it is fenced and gated.

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    2. You got it the other way around bro, oci bought sri banting and still there

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  3. Possibly one of my father's old dredges (he was a dredgemaster in the area late 60's early 70's)...

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    1. Did your father ever work with timah langat berhad? But as far as i know, in early 60's, selangor dredging berhad is the 1st company that has built a dredge there...

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    2. Could even be one of my dad's companies old dredeges. He worked for Conzinc Rio Mysia Sdn Bhd in the 60's - 80's and I remember being at a launching for a dredge in Dengkil in the mid-70's/ So cool to see all these photos after so long.

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    3. Interesting. Sad to see the dredge deteriorating now and no one cares.

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  4. Alex, that is interesting. Does your father remember any details?

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    1. Sorry not to reply earlier, completely forgot about this page until today!

      Father died in 2001 and he had many stories about that time in Malaysia, unfortunately not written down but told (endlessly) to me... and I've forgotten because we had a difficult relationship and that was an awful period of my life!

      Sorry!

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  5. Does anyone know if the Dengkil dredge is still there and if there are any plans for it. would make a great museum and restaurant. I have such amazing childhood memories of dredges around Malaysia.

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    1. Agree, it is still there. I just hope it is not deteriorating.

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    2. Still there, a friend of mine just posted a photo on Insta, apparently unguarded now

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  6. Hi Liz,
    I can confirm that Sri Banting Dredger is still there are there are a few plans in development. When I know something positive I will let you know.

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    1. I heard the mighty AHT D2 is still afloat at Puchong. Anyone out there can share its location on Google map or photos? Thanking before hand

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    2. Looking at Google Earth it was still there June 2023.

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    3. Hi, I'm Aysun and currently doing a research on dredgers left in Malaysia. May I know the exact location of AHT D2 on Google Earth? Thank you!

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    4. I don't think it is still there???

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  7. Thanks Glen for the update. I'd be interested to know future plans when they are available.
    Liz

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  8. Now you can enter to have a close view of this dredger as road are build by land fill development there go on a week-end.

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  9. Thanks for the update, Adventure. That's good to know.

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  10. Does anyone know who is the owner of the dredger? Is it Pacific Tin Consolidated?

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    1. Pacific Tin had only 2 dredges at Batang Berjuntai and Sungei Tinggi.

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