Pakistan has calculated that vehicles carrying NATO supplies in
containers caused damage worth Rs.150 billion to its highways over the
past 10 years.
Communications Minister Arbab Alamgir Khan told
Dawn that the National Highways Authority (NHA) carried out a survey to
assess the cost of the damage.
The survey showed that NATO
vehicles caused Rs.15 billion worth of damage every year to national
highways and the total damage from 2002 to 2011 was calculated at a
staggering Rs.150 billion.
Islamabad blocked the NATO supplies
passing through Pakistan following the Nov 26 NATO airstrike in Mohmand
Agency that left two dozen soldiers dead. An outraged Pakistan had also
boycotted an international conference in Bonn that focussed on
Afghanistan's future and directed the US to vacate the key Shamsi
airbase that was used to launch drone strikes.
Arbab said they
have written to the Foreign Office and the Planning Commission about the
damage and asked them to take up the matter with NATO in Afghanistan.
The minister said roads and highways in Pakistan were not designed to bear such extensive load.
NATO
containers and oil tankers weighing 60-70 tonnes use three main routes
-- Karachi-Kalat-Quetta-Chaman, Karachi-Dera Ghazi Khan-Dera Ismail
Khan-Kohat-Peshawar-Torkham and the Grand Trunk Road from Karachi to
Peshawar via Lahore. IANS
