ISLAMABAD: The government is finding it difficult to repair roads badly damaged by heavy traffic carrying Nato goods to Afghanistan over the years because the work will cost over Rs100 billion.

Replying to a supplementary question in the National Assembly, Communications Minister Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan said the government was already having serious financial constraints and Nato was also not forthcoming with its promised aid to refurbish roads it had been using for its supplies.

So far only $67 million had been received for overhauling the Peshawar-Torkham road, he said.

The minister said the government regularly took up with the Nato authorities the issue of damaged roads which needed immediate repair.

Repair of the roads was one of the important clauses to which Nato had agreed when Pakistan reopened its supply routes in July. The routes had been closed after an attack on Salala border post by Nato forces in November last year.

According to a survey carried out last year, the Nato supply routes covering 4,046km had suffered about 26 per cent damage.

Answering a question raised by Bushra Rehman of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, the minister conceded that the Lahore-Islamabad motorway needed immediate repair.