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NAMA to invest E2bn, Docklands benefits

Thursday, February 21 14:19:30

The National Asset Management Agency said it is to invest E2 billion in a series of projects and will develop significant additional office space with the Dublin Central Business District.

It said it will place an emphasis on the Docklands area.

NAMA said this is in response to the on-going expansion of the financial services sector and the development of new business and technology hubs.

This is part of the agency's E2 billion investment programme in response to emerging foreign direct investment demand in key markets.

NAMA chairman Frank Daly told the Association of European Journalists in Dublin that the agency is also evaluating residential projects where demand exists in Dublin and in other major growth centres nationwide.

Mr Daly said that NAMA holds security over a ''considerable number of properties and lands on both sides of the River Liffey''. He said the agency is assessing the commercial feasibility of a wide range of projects, including those in the undeveloped part of the north Docklands.

The NAMA chairman also told the journalists that there may be a need for ''an entity at a national level to take a central, co-ordinating, policy development role in relation to the residential property market''.

''One of the legacies of the boom is the regional mismatch between housing supply and demand - some parts of Ireland will be attempting to absorb excess supply for a long time to come, whereas others are already showing signs of supply shortages, particularly parts of Dublin and some other cities,'' he stated.

Mr Daly said that the decision to appoint special liquidators to IBRC would ''significantly increase'' the agency's workload, as it acquires the unsold IBRC loan book later this year.

He said that depending on the scale of the loan transfers, the size of NAMA's balance sheet could increase by almost 50pc.