CARACAS, Sept. 18 -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Thursday that three Chinese firms will deliver construction materials in his country.

The companies will in the short term import construction materials from China, and in the long term produce the needed supplies in Venezuela, the president said, without identifying the companies.

These companies will help fill an economic void as Venezuela's own construction sector is still underdeveloped, especially for the building of quality housing, Maduro told a ceremony marking the delivery of 80 housing units in a low-income residential complex in Caracas.

Venezuela plans to build 3 million housing units and, according to the president, 622,000 residences have so far been completed, at an approximate cost of 500,000 bolivars (nearly 80,000 U.S. dollars) each.

"We hope that with these Chinese companies, we can produce everything we need" to meet the goal, said Maduro.