After further trying unsuccessfully in December 2013 to persuade the European Union to change the route of the motorway to pass through Râmnicu Vâlcea, the Romanian Government has retendered in June 2014 the update of the 2008 feasibility study for the section, and has signed the contract for this activity with a joint venture composed of Italian company Spea Ingegneria Europea and Romanian company Tecnic Consulting Engineering in June 2015, after an appeal from one of the bid participants. As the Ministry of Transport has started work on the Romanian General Master Plan for Transport required to access 2014–2020 European funds, it generated further controversy by appearing to continue to try avoiding the construction of the section as a motorway, as it downgraded it to express road in an October 2014 version of the Master Plan and later considered a phased express road/motorway approach in a subsequent version of the Master Plan. This has prompted reactions from the European Union, the public society and the employees of the Dacia plant near Pitești, and while the Romanian Prime Minister announced during October 2014 that the section will be included as a motorway in the final version of the Master Plan the change was reflected in the document only in July 2015.