- 125 - the planning and identification of the use of such areas. A specific agency, the Inter-Ocean Regional Authority (ARI), was set up on 25 February 1993 to administer property restored to Panama under the Torrijos-Carter Treaty. 36. A total of 1,250 hectares in the Pacific sector and 450 hectares in the Atlantic sector are thus to be removed from the public domain by 31 December 1999. The Inter-American Development Bank has granted the Republic of Panama a loan of $8.5 million to give support to the Inter-Ocean Regional Authority for the preparation of studies for the improved use of resources which have been or are to be restored, for the preservation of the Canal basin and for the formulation of a metropolitan plan for the development of Panama City and Colón. The planning of zones which have been or are to be restored has the following three components: The Canal, administered by the Canal Commission; Property on the banks of the Canal, mainly military bases; The water catchment system. 37. One of the tasks of the Inter-Ocean Regional Authority is to receive property and administer it and then share it out among the competent authorities. Dwellings are assigned by the Ministry of Housing. B. State policy in the area of housing 38. For the period 1990-1994, the Ministry of Housing had set itself the objective of building 100,000 "housing units" through a joint effort by the public and private sectors. It was trying to achieve 50 per cent of that goal, focusing primarily on the low-income sectors, by means of programmes for self-management and execution of housing construction. In February 1994, the Ministry considered that it could achieve 30,000 housing units, but this objective has not been fully attained. 39. The Ministry’s policy has three objectives: To deal with the existing nuevos asentamientos organizados (new organized settlements), in order to address the problem of land take-overs by needy families; To develop the lotes servidos (plots with basic utilities) programmes; To develop the housing improvement programme, by means of loans for materials. 40. In the course of the interview which he accorded the mission, the Minister of Housing showed a clear awareness of the problem. He considered that the housing problem had been serious since the beginning of the century, that the housing shortage had increased enormously in recent years and that the needs of the poorest sectors of the population had driven them to illegal action. He regarded two questions as having priority: