Caracas, May 1 (RHC-Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced Thursday that his government has invested more than 73 billion U.S. dollars in the past four years in building affordable housing, under international cooperation with several countries.

The government program, called the Great Housing Mission, aims to build 3 million homes by 2019.

In a televised broadcast statement celebrating the program's fourth anniversary, Maduro said 701,250 homes have been built in the first four years since the program was launched in 2011 by late Bolivarian leader Hugo Chavez.

The Great Housing Mission was created after torrential rains in late 2010 left more than 30,000 families homeless around the country.

International cooperation, particularly from China, Russia, Belarus, Iran, Spain, Colombia and Cuba, has been an important part of the program.