Weeks after legislation to sell the Port of Melbourne finally passed the Victorian Parliament, Treasurer Tim Pallas has confirmed the government is already eyeing off a number of other assets that could be "recycled" in order to help fund Labor's $46 billion infrastructure agenda.

"There will be more, let me be very clear about that," Mr Pallas declared at a post-budget lunch hosted by the Melbourne Press Club and the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"We intend over the course of this year and next year of proving up the viability of certain assets. There are some that are on our horizon that we're looking at, but I don't want to put that in to the public domain at the moment – the reason being there are people who work there and whose livelihoods are affected, and I think I at least owe them the courtesy of speaking to them directly before I start telling the world at large that their particular undertakings will be affected."

The push to further relinquish state-owned assets was outlined in the Victorian budget papers released on Wednesday, which warned that the state would need new strategies to fund its major projects over the next 10 years.

However the number of assets that could be flogged off is somewhat limited given many essential services in Victoria – including electricity and public transport – were already privatised under the Kennett government in the 1990s.

Since then the Port of Melbourne has been regarded as the prime opportunity, with the government now able to use the proceeds to pay for level crossing removals on Melbourne's busiest train lines and other transport projects.

Two years ago the Rural Finance Corporation was also sold under the Napthine government, which had flirted with the idea of privatising Vicroads' personalised number plates business and land registry services provided by the Land Titles Office. Other remaining state-owned assets include water businesses and the Transport Accident Commission.

Infrastructure was the centrepiece of Wednesday's state budget with Mr Pallas declaring Victoria was prepared to fully fund the $10.9 billion Melbourne Metro Rail project if the Turnbull government refused to partner in the project. The budget also included:

• An increase in the debt levels, from 4.8 per cent of the state economy to 6 per cent.
• A $9.2 billion war chest of surpluses over the next four years on the back of solid collections of payroll tax, land tax and GST.
• Growth in public sector expenses of 3.2 per cent a year, topping to $23 billion in 2019/20.
• About $46 billion in infrastructure projects over the next decade.

The budget was broadly welcomed by interest groups but Opposition Leader Matthew Guy criticised the fact it did not have an overarching population plan to tackle Melbourne's "unsustainable" growth.

"This is a budget that promises an infrastructure project here, a spending over there ... but there is no plan to manage our state's population and that is what we need," he said.