THE HAGUE, 28/02/07 - Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen wants the capital to introduce a car tax per kilometre driven as soon as possible. In other areas as well, he wants Amsterdam to be a 'testing ground' for progressive cabinet policy.

"We would be pleased if the cabinet ventures to experiment in partnership with Amsterdam," writes Cohen in a letter to Premier Jan Peter Balkenende. A project in which the capital wants to play a trendsetting role is the kilometre levy. Amsterdam wants to be the first to introduce this system, because it will contribute to better air quality, according to Cohen.

The cabinet has indicated it wants to introduce a kilometre levy system on some or all motorways before 2012. Existing car taxes should then disappear or be reduced.

Amsterdam also wants the cabinet to use the capital as a 'testing laboratory' for other ambitions in the coalition accord, such as performance contracts with educational bodies to prevent school dropouts, transforming ghettos into "splendid districts" and improving integration processes.