Infrastructure guru backs freeway sale plan Infrastructure Australia chair Sir Rod Eddington is in favour of the Eastern Freeway being sold. Picture: Stuart Mcevoy Source: Herald Sun THE chairman of the Federal Government's peak infrastructure advisory body is in favour of the Eastern Freeway being sold. Infrastructure Australia chair Sir Rod Eddington also said the State Government should have tolled Peninsula Link and warned it would probably need to put tolls back on the West Gate Bridge in order to pay for the east-west link. Sir Rod's intervention came after ConnectEast boss Dennis Cliche sparked debate yesterday with his call for the Government to sell the Eastern Freeway to help pay for the first stage of the east-west link connecting the Eastern Freeway with CityLink. Do you think the Eastern Freeway should be sold and tolled? Have your say Sir Rod said: "In order to pay for the east-west link, the Government needs to have a serious look at tolling the Eastern Freeway. Building new infrastructure is expensive and governments have limited money. In this environment, he said, the days of toll-free infrastructure had passed. "Major new freeways like Peninsula Link should be toll roads," he said. He said the case for tolling existing roads to pay for new roads was strong. "The users of the Eastern Freeway are major beneficiaries of the new tunnel," he said. (If) one of the things you believe you must do is to provide a second river crossing to complement the West Gate Bridge, then it is likely you would need to reinstate tolls on the West Gate. Sir Rod's intervention came as Transport Minister Terry Mulder said the "Eastern Freeway is not up for sale" and Mr Cliche was "dreaming." He also denied the Government would struggle to raise money for the project without tolling existing roads, saying there was a "string of investors" keen to talk about the link without selling off other roads. Former premier Jeff Kennett also weighed in, saying justifying a toll on existing roads was "not impossible, but very difficult." He told 3AW a better plan would be for the State Government to borrow more money while interest rates were so low, and toll the new link, itself, to make that money back. The Public Transport Users Association attacked both plans, saying the east-west link wouldn't solve congestion and tolling existing roads would aggravate motorists.