Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and MACC officers will head to China to discuss the two multi-billion ringgit pipeline projects undertaken by the Finance Ministry-owned Suria Strategic Energy Resources (SSER).

"They will go to China to negotiate with the relevant parties," Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad told a press conference in Putrajaya this afternoon.

SSER had awarded the projects to the China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CPPB).

Mahathir said the government wanted to review why payments for the projects are made based on timeline milestones instead of work progress.

Lim yesterday said the projects were worth about RM9.4 billion in total, and that a majority of payments have already been made.

He also claimed to have documents linking SSER to 1MDB.

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak said to his recollection, all necessary procedures and laws had been complied with in the negotiation and execution of the projects.

Meanwhile, Mahathir said the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) was also being paid on a timeline agreement.

"And as far as we can determine, the work done is much less than the payments made," he said.

He said the government wants to negotiate with China to ease payments for the project, which is estimated to cost more than RM55 billion.

The government is also looking into whether to defer or terminate the project.