Departement der Burgerlijke Openbare Werken

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tagsorganization, colonial, dutch, infrastructure, public-works, buitenbezittingen, aceh, colonial-department, concept, b.o.w., bow, burgerlijke-openbare-werken, irrigation, wadoek, panté-lhong
aliasesDepartment of Civil Public Works, B.O.W., Departement van B.O.W., Burgerlijke Openbare Werken, Departement der B.O.W., B.O.W. (Burgerlijke Openbare Werken), BOW

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The Departement der Burgerlijke Openbare Werken (“Department of Civil Public Works,” abbreviated B.O.W.) was the Dutch colonial department responsible for the construction and maintenance of public works in the Netherlands East Indies, including the Outer Possessions and Atjeh. In the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s volume De Buitenbezittingen 1904 tot 1914, the B.O.W. is the colonial department under whose authority the havenwezen (harbour works), the wegaanleg (road construction), and the irrigatie (irrigation) of the Buitenbezittingen were carried out — including the Sumatra road plan, of which the Gajo-weg from Bireuen to Takengon in the Atjeh and Dependencies residency was project no. 14.

Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Departement der Burgerlijke Openbare Werken

The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account of the Departement der Burgerlijke Openbare Werken surveys the Department’s werkkring in the Buitenbezittingen under three principal heads: havenwezen (harbour works), wegaanleg (road construction), and irrigatie (irrigation). For the streken which were under direct administration (rechtstreeksch bestuur), the works were executed under the central technical leadership of the B.O.W. through ingenieurs placed in the various gewesten. For the zelfbesturende landschappen (self-governing territories), the B.O.W. acted only as advisor — the costs of works in the zelfbesturen were not borne on the algemeene begrooting (general budget).

The Bureau’s account of the Sumatra road plan is the principal Atjeh-related work of the B.O.W. in the volume. The plan, instituted by the Inspectie voor de Verkeerswegen (Inspectorate for Traffic Routes) attached to the B.O.W., proposed “a voorloopig wijdmazig, doch het geheele eiland omvattend net van, ook met automobielen berijdbare, hoofdwegen (a provisional wide-meshed, but island-wide network of main roads, also drivable with automobiles), aansluitend aan de spoor- en tramwegen en aan de steeds bevaarbare rivieren (connecting to the railways and tramways and to the always-navigable rivers).” The plan included fifteen principal projects, of which two were in the Atjeh and Dependencies residency: the Alasweg from Kaban Djahe to Kota Tjane (project no. 13, 137 K.M., f 1,173,000, “in the main completed”) and the Gajo-weg from Bireuen to Takengon (project no. 14, 76 K.M., f 1,496,000, “completed”).

The B.O.W.’s role in the Atjeh-tramway was more limited — the Atjeh-tram was administered by the Department of War from 1875 to 1882, by the B.O.W. from 1882 to 1891, and again by the War Department from 1891 onward. The B.O.W.’s brief administration of the line in 1882–1891 was, however, the period of the line’s “narrowing” (versmalling) from a spoorbaantje to a trambaan, and of the 1885 construction of the belt-tramway along the postenlinie.

Significance

The Departement der Burgerlijke Openbare Werken is, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account, the principal colonial department of infrastructure in the Buitenbezittingen — the department under whose authority the Sumatra road plan (including the Gajo-weg from Bireuen to Takengon and the Alasweg from Kaban Djahe to Kota Tjane in the Atjeh and Dependencies residency) was carried out. The B.O.W.’s brief administration of the Atjeh-tramway in 1882–1891 likewise marks the only period of civil — as opposed to military — administration of the line before the post-1908 reorientation.

See Also

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. 47–59 (Het Departement der B. O. W.), pp. 53–56 (Wegenplan Sumatra), p. 68 (section “De Atjeh-tram”).

The Departement der Burgerlijke Openbare Werken (“Department of Civil Public Works,” abbreviated B.O.W.) was the Dutch colonial department responsible for the construction and maintenance of public works in the Netherlands East Indies, including the Outer Possessions and Atjeh. In the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s volume De Buitenbezittingen 1904 tot 1914, the B.O.W. is the colonial department under whose authority the havenwezen (harbour works), the wegaanleg (road construction), and the irrigatie (irrigation) of the Buitenbezittingen were carried out — including the Sumatra road plan, of which the Gajo-weg from Bireuen to Takengon in the Atjeh and Dependencies residency was project no. 14.

Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Departement der Burgerlijke Openbare Werken

The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account of the Departement der Burgerlijke Openbare Werken surveys the Department’s werkkring in the Buitenbezittingen under three principal heads: havenwezen (harbour works), wegaanleg (road construction), and irrigatie (irrigation). For the streken which were under direct administration (rechtstreeksch bestuur), the works were executed under the central technical leadership of the B.O.W. through ingenieurs placed in the various gewesten. For the zelfbesturende landschappen (self-governing territories), the B.O.W. acted only as advisor — the costs of works in the zelfbesturen were not borne on the algemeene begrooting (general budget).

The Bureau’s account of the Sumatra road plan is the principal Atjeh-related work of the B.O.W. in the volume. The plan, instituted by the Inspectie voor de Verkeerswegen (Inspectorate for Traffic Routes) attached to the B.O.W., proposed “a voorloopig wijdmazig, doch het geheele eiland omvattend net van, ook met automobielen berijdbare, hoofdwegen (a provisional wide-meshed, but island-wide network of main roads, also drivable with automobiles), aansluitend aan de spoor- en tramwegen en aan de steeds bevaarbare rivieren (connecting to the railways and tramways and to the always-navigable rivers).” The plan included fifteen principal projects, of which two were in the Atjeh and Dependencies residency: the Alasweg from Kaban Djahe to Kota Tjane (project no. 13, 137 K.M., f 1,173,000, “in the main completed”) and the Gajo-weg from Bireuen to Takengon (project no. 14, 76 K.M., f 1,496,000, “completed”).

The B.O.W.’s role in the Atjeh-tramway was more limited — the Atjeh-tram was administered by the Department of War from 1875 to 1882, by the B.O.W. from 1882 to 1891, and again by the War Department from 1891 onward. The B.O.W.’s brief administration of the line in 1882–1891 was, however, the period of the line’s “narrowing” (versmalling) from a spoorbaantje to a trambaan, and of the 1885 construction of the belt-tramway along the postenlinie.

Significance

The Departement der Burgerlijke Openbare Werken is, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account, the principal colonial department of infrastructure in the Buitenbezittingen — the department under whose authority the Sumatra road plan (including the Gajo-weg from Bireuen to Takengon and the Alasweg from Kaban Djahe to Kota Tjane in the Atjeh and Dependencies residency) was carried out. The B.O.W.’s brief administration of the Atjeh-tramway in 1882–1891 likewise marks the only period of civil — as opposed to military — administration of the line before the post-1908 reorientation.

Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)

The B.O.W. — Burgerlijke Openbare Werken, the Civil Public Works department — was the colonial government’s public-works department, responsible for the great irrigation-works and other public-infrastructure projects of the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden. The B.O.W. is the principal builder of the wadoeks (dams) of the Atjehnese rice-cultivation, and the principal author of the costly and often useless public-works of the early civilian period — of which the failed dam at Panté Lhong in Peusangan (cost: three tons) is Broersma’s type-case.

Source

Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapters X, XIII, ‘In het land van Peusangan’ and ‘Het groote rijstland Pidië’, pp. 67, 91.

See Also

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. 47–59 (Het Departement der B. O. W.), pp. 53–56 (Wegenplan Sumatra), p. 68 (section “De Atjeh-tram”).

Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923); Atjeh Patchouli-Olie, by Ir. W. Spoon (1932), where applicable.

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