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TONY Abbott's infrastructure tsar will today call for more user-pays road pricing as part of a strategy to improve productivity and quality of life in urban areas. The Australian can reveal that as he officially launches the national urban transport strategy, Infrastructure Co-ordinator Michael Deegan will argue that proposals for projects seeking federal support should include modelling on scenarios where the sort of road pricing suggested by the Henry review was in place. "This is the normal approach to business investment and there is no reason to ignore it for infrastructure that is paid for by the community," Mr Deegan will say.

The Henry review proposed location-specific congestion pricing in cities and that truck operators pay road-wear charges, with the revenue raised used to finance urban transport infrastructure. The calls on road pricing add to calls for reform from business groups and Productivity Commission chairman Peter Harris, who last year said the view among motorists that tolls and congestion charges were "double dipping and therefore morally wrong" was a "bad perception to encourage".

On Wednesday, Council of Australian Governments Reform Council chairman John Brumby said a new national reform agenda should tackle road tolls. Noting Australia is a highly urbanised country, Mr Deegan will say the significance of urban transport cannot be overstated.\ He will also note budget "stringencies" make it imperative that the nation is clever about its urban infrastructure and that theright balance of modes of transport will need to be struck.

The national urban transport strategy - initially released in December -- says "very substantial sums" are already being spent on urban transport and roads and rail. The estimated cost of transport projects on Infrastructure Australia's 2013 priority list was more than $75 billion. In a signal to the states and others pitching projects to IA, Mr Deegan will today say the agency wants evidence about how they will lead to improved "liveability".

"Australia more than most other countries needs to ensure that urban transport is efficient and equitable," Mr Deegan will say. "This will increase productivity, international competitiveness and quality of life." The comments come as the Abbott government faces calls to back the wider use of road tolls to finance new projects. While Mr Abbott wants to be known as an "infrastructure prime minister", Labor has said the government is putting public transport "off limits" asit has refused to match funding in Labor's last budget for the Cross River Rail in Brisbane and the Melbourne Metro.

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