Pursuant to the good intentions agreement, the Ministry of Defence paid nine local governments that are home to training areas – Anija, Kuusalu, Lääne-Harju, Narva-Jõesuu, Rõuge, Saarde, Saku, Tapa, and Võru – support of EUR 300,000.
According to Minister of Defence Luik, the purpose of the support is to compensate for the negative impact arising from the use of the training areas in the affected area.
‘Without the support and cooperation of local governments, the skills of our servicemen would not be where they are today. This has been ensured through the use of terrain based training, where weapons and other equipment are used, noted Luik.
He added that national defence in Estonia involves society as a whole and training areas within local government boundaries are of critical importance to ensuring our defence capability. ‘We consider good cooperation with local governments to be of the utmost importance,’ stated Luik.
Pursuant to the good intentions agreement concluded in the autumn, activities related to the development of national defence training areas will be carried out in a spirit of cooperation and communication, taking into account the surrounding living environment and the need to promote the Republic of Estonia’s primary defence capability and national defence activities.
Pursuant to the agreement, during the period 2019–2023 the Ministry of Defence will make annual payments to local governments – in addition to eliminating any damage caused by exercises – consisting of three times the amount of the 2019 land tax paid for the training area within the boundaries of the local government, from which the already paid amount of mandatory land tax has been deducted.
Located within the above mentioned local governments are the Defence Forces central training area, the Soodla, Männiku, Sirgala, Klooga, Kikepera and Nursipalu training areas and the Tapa close-quarters training area.
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