NMBM responds to Silvertown "worst township label "

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 The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality says several plans had been in place to improve the lot of residents in the Silvertown informal settlement in Kwazakhele.

However, it says several stumbling blocks over the years have thwarted these efforts.

Statistics South Africa officially named Silvertown as the worst place in South Africa to live in, based on data from Census 2011.

In a posting on its official Facebook page on Tuesday, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality outline several steps that had been taken over the years to improve the area which included the relocation of some residents.

Municipality spokesperson, Kupido Baron, says the community is largely opposing relocation.

Read the full municipality posting below.

"We concede that the plan to improve the lives of the people in Silvertown has been thwarted by several stumbling blocks over the years as we had difficulty to successfully negotiate a layout plan acceptable to everyone in the community.

The municipality drew up a high density layout plan for the area, that would accommodate 600 families in the duplex buildings in the area, as far back as 2009. This was unfortunately not accepted as the community insisted on a layout plan with RDP houses for everybody. This would then mean that some of the families must be relocated to Wells Estate to allow for enough space to build the required houses.

The community is largely opposing this as the majority of the people would like to stay in Silvertown. We then tabled a new layout plan and it was approved by Council but will require the relocation of some of the people in the area. In addition to this difficulty, we must link the development of this neighbourhood with the nearby MK Qaqawuli (built on land belonging to Transnet) as both areas are underdeveloped.

We are now at an advanced stage to sign a memorandum of understanding with Transnet to receive the land for the Qaqawuli area. The provision of services such as electricity, water, sanitation and housing for both these areas can start when the land is acquired, layout plans are accepted and approved."