While much of the focus is on metropolitan Melbourne and the strain on growth zones to the west, the independent Infrastructure Victoria report also notes the need for continued investment in regional cities.

For Ballarat, the report reiterates the need to electrify the rail line, however instead of previously mentioned plans to introduce metro trains to Melton, it recommends only electrifying to Rockbank, and potentially adding a new station at Mount Atkinson.

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It notes the need for new recycling facilities in Ballarat and the potential new industries it could support in a true circular economy, as well as decentralising the state's electricity network.

While it discusses the need for new electricity transmission infrastructure to the state's west, no mention is made of the social or agricultural impacts of these plans.

State-wide, it calls for a review of social housing locations, noting many houses are now no longer fit for purpose.

Bus networks in the regions should be overhauled and modernised, and other fully integrated transport options should be explored.

In total, the report makes 95 recommendations for the state government, including better utilisation of existing infrastructure.

Committee for Ballarat chief executive Michael Poulton said the focus on easing population pressure in metropolitan Melbourne by encouraging sustainable development in the regions was promising.

"You then see some of the detail come through, in things like identifying the renewable energy zones - they're crucial to regional Victoria, because we can get direct access to cheap renewable energy, abundant renewable energy, which is attractive to business and helps develop regional Victoria," he said.

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"What (the report) really provides, it gives us a template to keep governments accountable in relation to its infrastructure spend, it provides a really neat way every 12 months of assessing its progress."

Public Transport Users Association Ballarat convenor Ben Lever said electrifying and quadruplicating the Ballarat line to Melton remained a priority.

"heir suggestion that electrification should only extend to Rockbank, not Melton, does seem very strange - the rationale is that stopping at Rockbank would slow the sprawl of housing, but the reality is that this is already happening, and Melton will have joined up with western Melbourne within a few years regardless," he said.

"Given that Melton serves by far the most passengers of any station in this area, electrifying it is crucial to addressing the overcrowding we're seeing now, let alone the issues we'd be seeing ten years from now.

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"It was also great to see that much of Infrastructure Victoria's report recommended making better use of existing infrastructure by running services more frequently - this is just as true of running trains more often on existing tracks as it is of running buses more often on our existing road network, and it's something the government should increase its focus on as many of its construction projects wrap up.

"The strong support for funding cycling connections is really welcome - the report points out that both state and local governments have had plans for cycling networks for several years, but that the funding hasn't been there to back it up. Cycling infrastructure is so cheap that even a relatively modest increase in funding could do a whole lot of good, and the evidence shows that a lot of people would cycle more if they had a safe network to do it on."

The full report is available online.

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