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Tuesday, June 23, 2009.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon O'Donnell.

Making headlines today:

FIFA president Sepp Blatter's main concern ahead of the international football tournament, which kicks off in June next year, is a shortage of accommodation, particularly in some of the smaller 2010 host cities, such as Bloemfontein.

However, Blatter stressed that he wasn't "looking for problems, only solutions". He said that various options were being interrogated to deal with the accommodation challenge.

He hinted to the berthing of passenger ships off Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth to deal with shortages in those coastal cities. However, the problem was more acute for the landlocked city of Bloemfontein, in the Free State province, where Blatter said fans wouldn't necessarily be seeking four- or five-star hotels, but rather "decent and secure" places to stay during the month-long tournament.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter:
(audio clip)

The Department of Environmental and Water Affairs would reinstate specialised courts focusing specifically on individuals who trespass South Africa's environmental laws.

Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said that the courts were likely to be up and running within eight months.

She noted that while current legislation made room for prosecuting trespassers, environmental legislation wasn't the core function of the current Justice Department. As a result, the courts wouldn't prioritise crimes related to environment. For this reason the department has decided to bring back the specialised courts.

The newly established Environmental and Water Affairs department would also look at combining the efforts of the Green and Blue Scorpions, to create a single task team to enforce environmental legislation.

Also making headlines:

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan says that South Africa will continue to pursue fiscal policies that have helped grow the economy.
The Green building council hopes to launch a pilot rating tool for shopping centres in October.
The East London Industrial Development Zone eyes renewable energy investments.
And, Eskom seeks bids for a Cape distribution-network refurbishment plan.

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories please visit engineeringnews.co.za.