
164 Solar Power for the World
from the PRS was not completely free. Almost 1 million
people benefitted from the programme.
After its completion in 1996, the programme and all the
systems were thoroughly evaluated. Various investigations
were undertaken and in a meeting in Bamako in 1999,
the governments of the countries concerned and the EU
decided to go ahead with a follow-up programme, PRS II. As
an official in the EU Commission’s Aid Directorate in 2000,
I was involved in approving this follow-up programme. The
budget over the period 2001–2007 was e73 million: 210
water pumps and 280 PV community systems from PRS I
were refurbished and 465 PV pumps were ...