MAURESHANA Sharper, 31, of Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara, is counting her losses after a contractor she hired to build a pig farm at Soedsyke Linden Highway disappeared with her money, building materials and tools she provided him to complete the task.

Sharper, formerly of New Amsterdam, Berbice told the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday that the contractor and his two employees, who hail from Berbice, stayed at the premises since it would have been a challenge for them to commute daily from Berbice to Soesdyke during the course of the project.

Soon after construction started, Sharper paid them a visit and realised that the men needed a few things to make their work easier and she provided them with a generator for electricity, a jack hammer to aid in their construction, a submersible pump and some amount of wire.

The woman said the man and his workers were paid more than 50 per cent of the costs required to get the job done. The contractor also took a large sum of cash to purchase other items and reportedly told Sharper that he was unable to receive same.

The woman related that last month, when the men were expected to start another stage of the project, they told her not to visit them on a date agreed since they will begin work the following day.

Subsequently, she realised that they gave her that excuse because they had already made arrangements to remove the materials from her property and were attempting to prevent her from walking-in and catching them in the illegal act.

Suspicious, Sharper said she decided to make an impromptu visit to the construction site and to her horror, found all the materials gone and the workers nowhere to be seen.
Following several inquiries from residents around the construction site, the woman said she was told that a canter truck and a car carried away her materials. It happened the day her workmen told her not to visit the construction site.

The men, she said, from all accounts, told neighbours that they were moving the items to Georgetown since she (Sharper) requested them to do so.

Sharper said she did manage to make contact with the contractor and he told her that he did not steal the items and will get them back to her and gave her a date. However, on that date, he failed to honour his promise.

The items removed from the premises, she said, include two and half slings of cement, the jack hammer, generator, submersible pump, and steel rods among others.
Sharper, who valued her losses at around $2M to $4M, said she had reported the matter to the police who have reportedly launched an investigation.