The Ministry of Defense wants to reduce the size of the Männiku training area. Currently, its area is over 1246 hectares. After the changes, the area will be slightly over 1067 hectares. The external boundary will shorten by over 3 kilometers.
There are two reasons for this. First, the Rail Baltica railway will pass through the training area. Second, there is a nature conservation area. For the railway, 134.47 hectares of land will be taken.
The training area also has an old sand deposit. Its area is over 42 hectares. Protected animals and plants live there, such as the crested lark and the sand lizard. Therefore, this area can no longer be used for training.
The Ministry of Defense states that the functions of the training area will remain the same. Additional protective structures, such as safety embankments and bullet catchers, may be needed for the construction of Rail Baltica.
The Harju County planning for Rail Baltica was done in 2018. The Land Board applied in 2024 for the transfer of the land plot to the Ministry of Climate.