Four state-run companies will carry out 21 trillion won (US$17.3 billion) worth of projects in 2016 as part of the government-led stimulus to boost the local property market and the entire economy, the ministry said Thursday.

The public firms will order 1,689 new projects, such as building new apartment complexes and highways, this year, with the total value reaching 20.9 trillion won, up 7 percent from 19.5 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The corporations are the Korea Land & Housing Corp., the Korea Expressway Corp., the Korea Water Resources Development Corp. and the Korea Rail Network Authority.

The ministry said it will launch more than 50 percent of the planned projects during the first six months of the year in order to lend support to the government's efforts to prop up the economy.

"The ministry and public firms will do our best to revive the economy and the construction market," the ministry said in a release.

The South Korean government earlier announced a set of pump-prime measures to spend more than 40 percent of its annual budget in the first quarter in order to tackle faltering exports and cooling domestic demand.

Asia's fourth-largest economy posted negative growth in its outbound shipments for a record 14 consecutive months in February, with its retail sales and home transactions showing some signs of a slowdown this year.

The country's real estate market was on a roll last year on the back of a series of government measures to revitalize the property market and the entire economy.

But home sales plunged 21.4 percent in January from a year earlier as the government-initiated effects waned in the beginning of the year.(Yonhap)