Hypercautious Hong Kong: the perils of being overprepared

Failing to plan is planning to fail, so they say. But is Hong Kong taking that saying too far?

Between Mers (Middle East respiratory syndrome) and our electoral-reform process, how many press statements, quarantine notices and police overtime slips have been issued this month? How much money has been spent paving the road to nowhere?

Like a toddler already swotting for a school entrance interview, we have become overprepared. And I'm not being hyperbolic; in April the BBC reported on a 1½-year-old girl in Hong Kong who was practising to be accepted into a nursery school.

If you've subscribed to the Centre For Health Protection's alerts, you'll have received warnings not just about a possible Mers outbreak (for at least two years now), but also regular updates on Ebola, H1N1, H7N9 and many other illnesses that are not currently - and, in some cases, never have been - in our city.

When it comes to public works, preparation goes into overdrive. The West Kowloon Cultural District was proposed in 1998 but, 17 years later, the ground is still being prepared.

On a personal level, my office, like many in Hong Kong, last year assembled a riot box kit, full of supplies, in case protests over electoral reform turn violent and employees get stuck at work. In Central. Surrounded by shops and cafes.