Restoration of NATO supply: $ 1,000 per truck tax suggested

Minister for Communication Dr. Arbab Alamgir Khan has proposed a levy of $1,000 on each NATO truck transporting vital supplies through Pakistan to the coalition forces in Afghanistan.Arbab Alamgir Khan told reporters that the NATO heavy vehicles have left 26 percent of the countrys highways in a deteriorated condition and their reconstruction will cost $1.3 billion.Seventy percent of Afghan NATO supplies pass through Pakistan via three routes.The minister was speaking to reporters after addressing the closing session of a road transport conference in Islamabad.Pakistan had banned NATO supplies to Afghanistan after a cross-border raid by coalition forces on two check posts in November last year left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead.Speaking on the highlights of ECO TTCC meeting, he said that member states would issue “white cards” on the lines of European Union along with a common visa for drivers traveling across the ECO states.