Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton says he is powerless to change toll fares as commuters and regulators raise questions about the company’s dominance of Australia’s motorways, after it secured full ownership of Sydney’s WestConnex toll road in an $11 billion deal.

“It’s a heavily regulated sector where effectively the government sets the price and the escalation [of tolls],” Mr Charlton told The Australian Financial Review. “We take all the risk on traffic, it doesn’t matter who owns it – the toll doesn’t change.”