Before independence, Bibala was Vila Arriaga, a planned inland settlement tied to railway expansion and agricultural colonisation. The centre still carries that origin in its relationship to the tracks: commercial and administrative buildings gathered close to the station rather than around a scenic square.
The point here is not grand architecture. It is the layout and the historical logic of the place. Walk the centre with the railway in mind and Bibala becomes easier to understand: a service town built where the coast-to-plateau route needed a foothold.