Bijagual

About Bijagual:

Bijagual covers some 84 square kilometres on the eastern side of David district. Las Lomas lies to the west, and Gualaca begins across the Chiriquí River, reached by the Paso de la Sigua or the bridge at Los Cerrillos. The main link to the city is the Bijagual–David road, which the public works ministry rebuilt in 2021: almost seven kilometres widened to a six-metre carriageway, paved, and carried over the El Roble creek and the irrigation canal on new bridges. The farms around Zambrano are reached from the Pan-American Highway by way of El Valle, on the Las Lomas side.

This is one of the district’s main farming corregimientos, with about a tenth of all the farmland in David. Beef and dairy cattle come first, with pigs, maize, sugar cane and plantain alongside, and small plots of rice grown for the household. The other big presence is the Lorena hydroelectric plant, one link in the chain of power stations on the Chiriquí River, whose headrace canal runs across the corregimiento to a powerhouse beside Los Zambranos. The patron saint is the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús. For a clinic, a bank or a supermarket, people drive into David.

The land is low and level, most of it between 60 and 130 metres above sea level, on the plateau the Cochea and the Chiriquí leave between them. The Papayal and the Cerrillos run through it as well, and the hills of La Caja and El Vigía break up the flats. Water is what gives a parcel its value here. A spring that keeps running through the dry season, flat paddocks and improved pasture are what separate one finca from the next. Rivers also set the limits of access, and a ford or a bridge in poor repair can matter more than the distance on the map.

Bijagual is small: 878 people at the 2023 census, spread across about a dozen hamlets including Bajo de las Palmas, El Roblillo, La Montera, Los Algarrobos, Los Pedernales and Potrero Zambrano. The land suits a rancher adding pasture to a herd, or a David family that wants a plot near town. Some of the flat tracts on the Las Lomas side are offered as future housing ground, given how close they sit to the city. Whoever the buyer is, the deciding questions are the same three: water, access and title.

Fincas in Bijagual:

Cattle farms are the core of the market. The fincas for sale in Bijagual run from a few hectares to tracts of fifteen or more around Zambrano, most of them flat, under improved pasture, with springs and a caretaker’s house; the better-served ones also have electricity and a municipal water connection. Farms further from the asphalt may end in a stretch of stone track and come with fewer services. Before you compare price per hectare, compare what each finca actually brings: water in the dry months, a power line, and frontage on a public road.

Land and Lots in Bijagual:

For a single house there are lots of around 600 m² that sell for a fraction of what a lot inside the city costs, and some farms are being sold off in parcels of half a hectare. Parcels of a hectare or two aimed at small developments come up too. If the lot is still being segregated from a larger finca, make its own approved survey plan and registry number the condition for paying the balance. Ask as well whether the parcel touches the hydroelectric canal or the irrigation canal, because either one can carry an easement.

FAQ:

• Is the Bijagual in the advert the one in David?

  Not always. There is another Bijagual in Gualaca district and a community of the same name in Santa Marta, Bugaba, and adverts do not always say which. The property registry record shows the district and corregimiento, so ask for it before you visit; it decides which municipality taxes the land and issues your permits.

• What if a canal or power line crosses the finca?

  Three pieces of infrastructure run through Bijagual: the Lorena plant’s headrace canal, its transmission line, and the community irrigation canal. If any of them touches the land, look in the property registry for a recorded easement and what it lets you do on that strip, then walk the survey plan against the fences. Check too that the way in is a public road and not a track across the neighbour’s farm.

• How do I get to Bijagual from David?

  Take the Bijagual–David road, widened and paved in 2021, or leave the Pan-American Highway at El Valle for the farms around Zambrano. Toward Gualaca, residents have been asking for repairs to the bridge at Los Cerrillos. If the finca you like is on that side, drive the route in the rainy season before you commit.

• Do the farms have water and electricity?

  Some have both, with power and a municipal water connection on top of their own springs, mostly those near the paved roads. Further in, water may come only from a stream or a spring, and the last power pole can be some way off. Ask the electricity distributor what extending the line would cost before you make an offer.

• Can a foreigner buy land in Bijagual?

  Yes. A foreign buyer acquires titled land on the same terms as a Panamanian, and Bijagual is nowhere near the border zone where foreign ownership is limited. What needs watching is the kind of holding: if the seller has only possession rights, titling is a separate process that should be finished before you pay.