| Summary: | Purpose – The estimation of market value of intangible benefits of afforestation has always been a challenging task, and the contingent valuation method is a popular method used in environmental assessment. The NTPC set up a coal-based power plant in Korba, India and planted 1.6 million trees on 19% of the project area. Design/methodology/approach – The individual's mean and median willingness to pay (WTP) for four intangible benefits, namely, pollution control (PC), improvement in underground water level (IUGWL), soil conservation and remediation (SCR) in addition to total WTP from the afforestation program of NTPC were estimated using a customized procedure for logit model based upon respondent's age, education, occupation, income and bid amount asked to pay. Stratified multistage random sampling has been used to select the respondents. Findings – The procedure increases the number of respondents who are willing to pay as compared to conventional CVM. The finding of the study shows that the highest WTP was observed for PC (Rs. 462.84 per month per household) followed by SCR and IUGWL, whereas for total WTP it was Rs. 972.60. Originality/value – The proposed customized procedure and the results thereof would be useful in improving the WTP estimates for other similar studies in order to conserve the environment.
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