Power Ministry updates RoW compensation process to speed up transmission projects

The Ministry of Power (MoP) has issued amendments to its Supplementary Guidelines for compensation related to the Right of Way (RoW) for transmission lines. The revisions target procedural delays in land valuation, aiming to accelerate the compensation process for affected landowners under the framework established in the guidelines dated March 21, 2025.

The amendments specifically modify the Land Valuation Methodology. The updated procedure requires the Monitoring and Review Committee (MRC) to appoint three land valuers empanelled by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) simultaneously during its meeting. One valuer is nominated by the landowners’ representative (who must be from among the affected landowners), one by the Transmission Service Provider (TSP), and one by the District Magistrate (DM).

A key change mandates that the appointed valuers submit their assessment reports in sealed envelopes directly to the DM’s office within 21 days. Upon receipt of all three reports, the DM will open two selected via a lottery system to determine the reference market rate.

The calculation of the reference rate follows a defined formula. If the discrepancy between the two opened valuations is less than 20%, the average of the two figures is adopted. If the difference exceeds 20%, the rate may be set at 10% above the lower valuation. Should this be unacceptable, the third (unopened) report is consulted, and the reference value becomes the average of the two lowest valuations. This finalized rate forms the basis for the MRC’s compensation determination.

All valuer fees will be paid equally by the TSP through a due process, with these costs incorporated into the overall RoW compensation package.

The amendments operationalise the Supplementary Guidelines for RoW compensation issued earlier on March 21, 2025, which introduced valuation-based market rate assessment through the MRC framework. These guidelines build on the revised RoW policy issued in June 2024, under which compensation was linked to land market value and rates were increased for both tower base areas and RoW corridors.

The featured photograph is for representation only.