ABC Victoria: Melbourne East West Link: Federal Government to commit $1b to road project. 28 April 2014

The Federal Government will tomorrow announce its commitment of $1 billion towards the second stage of Melbourne’s East West link road project.

The Victorian Government’s planned East West Link is an 18-kilometre underground tunnel joining the Eastern Freeway to the Western Ring Road.

The Commonwealth has already promised $1.5 billion for the first stage of the project – expected to cost around $8 billion – connecting the Eastern Freeway to the Tullamarine Freeway.

Stage two of the project, which runs through the western suburbs, is likely to be more expensive.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine said in December he would seek more federal funding for the project to combat the loss of manufacturing jobs in state.

Last month, Prime Minister Tony Abbott told ABC local radio he was committed to the project as a job-creation initiative and wants to see the East West Link get started as soon as possible, despite a number of protests held by Victorians late last year.

Between September and December, several demonstrators took part in pickets across Melbourne in an attempt to disrupt the testing of drill sites needed for the first phase of the project.