The Wegenplan Sumatra (“Sumatra road plan”) was the systematic plan for a Sumatra-wide network of main roads — “a provisional wide-meshed, but island-wide network of main roads, also drivable with automobiles, connecting to the railways and tramways and to the always-navigable rivers” — instituted by the Inspectie voor de Verkeerswegen (Inspectorate for Traffic Routes) attached to the B.O.W. in the 1904–1914 decade. In the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account, the Wegenplan Sumatra included fifteen principal road projects, of which two were in the Atjeh and Dependencies residency: the Alasweg from Kaban Djahe to Kota Tjane (project no. 13) and the Gajo-weg from Bireuen to Takengon (project no. 14).
Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Wegenplan Sumatra
The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account of the Wegenplan Sumatra appears in the chapter on the B.O.W.’s road construction in the Buitenbezittingen. The Bureau notes that, with the institution of the Inspectie voor de Verkeerswegen, “a new time has begun in the development of the road system there.” Before the institution of the Inspectie, roads in the Buitenbezittingen had been built “on initiative of the administrative side” and “gradually in heerendienst (corvée labour)” — that is, by forced labour under the direction of administrative officials rather than by a centrally planned technical service.
The Bureau’s account of the Wegenplan Sumatra lists fifteen principal projects, of which the two in the Atjeh and Dependencies residency were:
- Project no. 13: the Alasweg, from Kaban Djahe to Kota Tjane. Length 137 K.M.; cost f 1,173,000. For the connection of the Alas lands with the Karo-hoogvlakte (Karo highlands) and the wegennet of the East Coast. “In the main completed.”
- Project no. 14: the Gajo-weg, from Bireuen to Takengon. Length 76 K.M.; cost f 1,496,000. For the connection of the Gajo lands with the North coast. “Completed.”
The Bureau notes that, of the fifteen Sumatra road projects listed, the Gajo-weg from Bireuen to Takengon was one of only a handful listed as “completed” by the end of the decade. The total length of road under construction under the Wegenplan Sumatra at the end of 1914 was “somewhat over 970 K.M. weglengte, for which an amount will prove necessary of f 12,100,000, of which about f 9 million already authorised.” Of this, “somewhat over f 7,000,000” had been spent by the end of 1914. The existing net — that is, the local and gewestelijk networks already in existence before the Wegenplan — totalled about 3,500 K.M. of hoofdwegen (main roads, of which about 2,700 K.M. paved) and 6,700 K.M. of binnenwegen (interior roads, of which about 900 K.M. paved). The Wegenplan Sumatra would, when complete, unite these existing networks “into one large Sumatra-net.”
The Bureau’s account also notes that “the still under consideration plans further include the laying of a connection between Palembang and the Lampong Districts, between Palembang and Middle Sumatra (Djambi), and further the opening up of Koerintji by a road to Tapan, the connecting of the Benkoelen and Padangsche wegennet, and that of the Oostkust van Sumatra with the Atjehsche.”
Significance
The Wegenplan Sumatra is, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account, the principal infrastructural project of the 1904–1914 decade for the integration of the Sumatran gewesten — including the Atjeh and Dependencies residency — into a single road network. The completion of the Gajo-weg from Bireuen to Takengon and the Alasweg from Kaban Djahe to Kota Tjane marks the formal integration of the Atjehnese interior highlands into the post-pacification Dutch administrative order.
See Also
- Departement der Burgerlijke Openbare Werken
- Gajo-landen
- Alaslanden
- Bireuen
- Takengon
- Kaban Djahe
- Kota Tjane
- Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- Sumatra
- Oostkust van Sumatra
- Palembang
- Benkoelen
- Djambi
- Koerintji
- Lampongsche Districten
- 1904
- 1914
Sources
De Buitenbezittingen 1904 tot 1914, Deel I, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen, Aflevering X (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 52–56 (section “De aanleg van wegen op de Buitenbezittingen”).