From ICRT:

... On the issues of cities and counties vying to be promoted to the status of special municipalities directly under the cabinet, Ma says the administration will treat every application fairly but won't grant approval to all.

Noting that many local governments are under tremendous pressure for the promotion, Ma explains that it will all come down to whether an area meets the requirements.

He points out that a special municipality needs to have at least an airport, a seaport, large-scale agriculture and industries, as well as enough land for further development.

This reminds me of a now forgotten promise of the Ma campaign, which was to lump together all small counties in Taiwan and create what I think were six super counties, all of which would have the status of special municipalities. For the life of me though, I can't find a link to show his plan at that time. Come to think about it, Hsieh had a similar plan.

But it seems those plans for major reform are on hold in favor of stopgap measures which may or may not benefit offices that sitting KMT politicians are running.