MONTEGO BAY, St James – The St James Parish Council has threatened to take the developers of the 701-room ClubHotel Riu at Mahoe Bay to court if they continue to build on the property without the requisite approval.

Secretary/manager at the local authority, Ian Reid, told the Observer yesterday that the council on Friday served an enforcement notice on the developers, after they defied a work stop notice the council had placed on the development two weeks ago.

“The information that we received was that after they were served the stop work notice, work was continuing, so on Friday we served them the enforcement notice,” Reid said.

If the developers fail to comply, Reid added, the council will take the matter before the court for an order to be made.

Last night, an official of the hotel declined to comment on the issue.

The proposed 701-room ClubHotel RIU is to be sited on roughly 20 acres of land, three kilometres east of the Sangster International Airport and adjacent to the Sandals Royal Caribbean Hotel and Offshore island.

Of the 701 rooms, 593 are to be double-occupancy, 84 triple-occupancy and 24 suites.

The hotel is being built by one of six Spanish resort groups that have invested US$1.5 billion in the island, according to Spain’s ambassador to Jamaica, Jesus Silva.