Plans to invest €3 billion in developing Dublin's docklands on the lines of Canary Wharf in London and delivering up to 22,000 houses and apartments in the greater Dublin area over the next five years have been announced by the National Asset Management Agency.

The programme was outlined yesterday at the publication of a review by the Department of Finance of how well the State property agency is progressing. "Investing in the docklands and . . . housing are key objectives," Frank Daly, the chairman of Nama said. "That could be anything in the order of a billion and a half in each of those programmes so we are talking possibly €3 billion."

He added: “I also want to make it clear that that is factored into our thinking about debt repayment. It will not compromise our ability to repay our debt or leave a surplus.”

Yesterday’s Nama review said it would repay at least 80 per cent of the €30.2 billion in senior debt it used in 2009 to acquire loans from banks by the end of 2016, two years ahead of schedule.

It said Nama hoped to return a surplus to the taxpayer when wound down in 2020.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said Nama owned 22 hectares of land in Dublin's docks, which was of "huge strategic importance": "It has the potential to be the Canary Wharf of Dublin."

He believed Nama’s investment in the docks could create 14,000 construction jobs and 4,000 ancillary jobs.