The Napthine Government's signature infrastructure project will cost Victorian taxpayers as much as $17.8 billion, and will be a drain on the public purse until the mid-2040s, the first major analysis of the controversial East West Link shows.

A report by 10 leading transport planners and financial analysts from three Melbourne universities concludes the East West price tag will be "comparable" with the Wonthaggi desalination plant, the cost of, and secrecy around which, contributed to the defeat of the Brumby government in 2010.

An artist's impression of Melbourne's East West Link.

It estimates the large annual payments to the private operators at about $400 million in the early years after construction is complete, and the road is being used. "This is a staggering sum of money by any standards," said Professor Jago Dodson from RMIT University. "And it is money that could be put to far better effect in resolving Melbourne's transport inadequacies."

The 10 academics – five of whom are professors at RMIT, Monash and University of Melbourne – used the limited public information available on the project to estimate the costs to the Victorian public purse.