An 11-year-old boy drowned after falling into a flooded excavation trench at a housing project site in Wattville in Ekurhuleni on Saturday.

SAPS provincial spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo says an inquest docket was opened at Actonville SAPS.

“It is reported that children were swimming in stagnant water when one of them disappeared,” he says.

Police and rescue teams were summoned to the scene where they retrieved the child’s body.

The Benoni City Times reported in January that the housing project which began six years ago has hit a snag, leaving residents baffled and without answers.

The newspaper further reported that the estimated R260m four-storey development was incomplete.

Criminals have taken advantage of the easy pickings of door frames and other structural materials on the site.

City of Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini acknowledged that the project has been delayed for some time.

He says the new estimated completion date of the project will be during the 2024/25 financial year.