The West of the state of Bahia is a developing area of Brazilian agriculture; hence the large scale of available land at comparitively low prices for quality ground with favorable rainfall.

It can be seen on the regional map of Luis Eduardo Magalhaes and the surrounding area, there are few roads and the distance to the closest town may be large.  Capital input and land development is happening rapidly in this area and therefore the taxes gained from this area are going straight back into Bahia with the current expansion plans of the paved roads and electric power supplies.  With these completed the remoteness of the area will have disappeared; this along with demand for agricultural land and agricultural products will increase the land value dramatically.

With increasing numbers of people and new technological developments the communication systems - whether it be land line telephone, satellite or cellular - moving into the area just as it has done in every developing place in the world and thus destroying the isolation. 

All major Bahian centres of economic activity are linked by 4,400km of federal highways which also link Bahia to the Federal Capital Brasilia, (a 6 hour drive away) and the rest of the country.  There are also over 1,800km of mainly paved secondary highways as well as over 100,000km of local roads, some of which can be notoriously rough at certain times of the year.  The Brasilia and Salvador International Airports are served by regular domestic and international flights from around the world. The Barreiras airport is also served with regular domestic flights.

Most of the electricity used in the Bahia is generated by a subsidiary of Electrobras (the federally owned electric supply and generation company). Some small private producers also supply the network. The distribution statewide is shared with 3 other enterprises.  Their coverage network is expanding rapidly to reach the outlying rural areas and places of new development.  It is federal law requiring all properties to be served by electricity by 2008, this is a major undertaking!

Poor roads are not really a hindering factor in Western Bahia, as the majority of the agriculture inputs and products are transported at the change of the season from the wet to the dry season and vice versa which is when the dirt roads are generally in good shape anyway. 

The new railway which will link the sea port at Ilheus, Ba, and Alvorada,To, where it will meet the new North-South railway will begin construction in early 2009 and when completed will run near LEM taking huge volumes of freight off the roads. This will allow cheaper bulk transportation of products to market. On average 3500 trucks a day pass through LEM.

All and all the infra-structure is improving rapidly and as time goes on, inaccessible areas are fast becoming linked with all modern facilities thus increasing land values and production and decreasing travel times, distances and costs.