The ownership dispute for the Olympic golf course continues

“The golf course is an undertaking exclusively private, which will be developed by the Rio 2016 Committee,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.

Local Olympic organizers said they expect the contracts for the course to be finalized by the end of June, and discount golf clubs that the city wouldn’t be directly involved even though it was responsible for choosing the land and facilitating the agreement.

The city recently told The Associated Press that it was “evaluating the measures it will take” regarding the land dispute.

That land decision is in the hands of Brazil’s Higher Court of Justice, and a final ruling could take months or even years. Still, the city says it has no plan B for the golf course and has not looked at alternatives to build the course which will mark the sport’s return to the Olympics after more than 100 years.

The city said it hasn’t signed any contracts for the golf course because it will be a private undertaking. It had publicly announced earlier this year, however, that it made an agreement with the land owner to have the course built on it. It said it would alter some of the building requirements in the area and, in exchange, the land owner and a construction company would pay for the $30 million course.

The International Golf Federation Taylormade Rocketballz Irons recently said construction on the course is expected to start around October, and the goal is to have it ready for test events early in 2015.

The city has said before that it was satisfied with Pasquale’s proof of ownership and that he had all the needed documents over the land.

Elmway Participacoes has been trying to claim ownership of the land for the past three years. The other alleged owner, entrepreneur Pasquale Mauro, has several properties in the region and has won many similar disputes.

American designer Gil Hanse, who was picked to build the course, recently acknowledged that his project was based entirely on the land under dispute and that any changes would force him to start from scratch.

Golf made its debut at the second modern Olympics in Paris in 1900, but was removed after the 1904 St. Louis Games. It was reinstated in a vote by the International Olympic Committee TaylorMade R11S Driver in 2009 and has a spot guaranteed in 2020, but a good impression in Rio will be critical in keeping the sport in the games beyond that. Another IOC vote on adding or deleting sports is scheduled for 2017.

The contracts for the golf course will involve the Rio 2016 Committee, an association that will run the course, the construction company and the developer who says he currently owns the land.