Manitoba taxpayers are now owed $186.7 million for the construction of Investors Group Field, up $8.3 million from last year due to mounting interest charges, according to the University of Manitoba’s 2015 financial report. And the amount owing is expected to top $200 million in two years.

At this rate, this place will never get paid off.

Even when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers through Triple B Stadium, the shell company that owns and operates the facility, starts making payments in the order of $4 million a year — expected in 2017 — that won’t even cover half the interest costs accumulating on the loan, which is now over $8 million a year (Triple B has to pay off a $10-million bank loan before it starts making its full payments to taxpayers).

The original taxpayer loan was for $160 million. But because only $1.2 million has been repaid so far, the principal and interest owing has ballooned. This is the convoluted, hare-brained loan scheme the Selinger government came up with to build this facility.

Under an agreement with the city of Winnipeg, whatever property taxes are generated at the old stadium site at Polo Park are supposed to go towards repaying the new stadium loan.

So far, though, only $222,779 in loan payments have been generated from that development. And it’s unclear how much tax revenue it will generate this year after Target closed its doors at the Polo Park site earlier this year.

The 107,000-sq.-ft building has since been purchased by Cadillac Fairview, which owns Polo Park Shopping Centre. But there’s still no word on what will be developed there.

Whatever it is, it will have to produce at least $4 million to $5 million a year in municipal taxes just to pay its share of the 4.65% interest charges that are accumulating on the balance of the loan.

That seems unlikely for an asset that was just purchased for a reported $18.5 million.

The only way out of this is for the provincial government to start waiving some of the interest charges, lowering the rate or writing off some of the principal.

This was a really dumb way to build a football stadium. It was never a viable plan to begin with. Under the current scheme, there’s no way this money will ever get paid back.

It’s possible Triple B Stadium will pay off one portion of the loan. The loan is broken down into two phases. Phase one is supposed to be repaid from revenues generated at the Polo Park site and phase two from stadium revenues.

Phase two of the loan is not accumulating interest until 2017, so it might eventually get paid off. Interest on that portion of the loan gets tacked on to the Polo Park loan. But that makes it nearly impossible to pay off phase one of the loan.

It’s a complicated and ridiculous way to finance a football stadium. And it will cost taxpayers big-time in the end.

Meanwhile, it appears Manitoba’s auditor general won’t be auditing the construction costs of Investors Group Field any time soon. The opposition Tories made a formal request to the AG to audit the costs and decisions made during construction of the facility. But sources say that won’t happen until after an ugly court battle between Triple B Stadiums and Stuart Olson, the company that built the stadium, winds its way through the courts.

Stuart Olson has alleged the provincial government politically interfered with the construction of the building, forcing the company to cut corners and compromise the quality of the final product.

The stadium has been plagued by all kinds of design flaws and defects, including flooding issues and cracking concrete.

But the auditor general typically doesn’t audit anything that is before the courts. So it’s unlikely an audit will occur before next April’s provincial election.

The case could end in an out-of-court settlement. But it may take years of negotiations to get to that point.

In the meantime, Investors Group Field loan obligations continue to pile up.

And the total amount owing will far exceed $200 million before Triple B Stadium even begins to make substantial payments on the loan.

As usual, taxpayers will be left holding the bag.